Alex?
by Complicated-little-Jellie
Summary: K-unit thought it was just another assignment, until they have to protect the 5 year old son of their dead friends, Ian and John Rider. Oh, and Scorpia are out for revenge.
1. normal protection job, right?

**Chapter 1- collection**

"At ease and take a seat soldiers." Blunt ordered. The 4 men took their seats and watched Blunt intently, waiting for him to tell them which death trap they were being sent to now. The truth is, they were all angry. Because only a fortnight ago they had returned from a hard assignment, and were promised a month's leave. Their leader knew it was too good to be true, this was MI6, what else were they to expect from these people?

"K-Unit." He addressed them as their unit, not individually. "We need you to do a protection job for the son of an old comrade of yours." This got their attention. "I believe his codename was Jaguar?" it wasn't a question; of course he knew the answer to that. "But his real name was John Marcus Rider. If you didn't already know, John was the world's best spy. An amazing success rate most in our world would think as impossible."

"Sir, Jaguar was killed 5 years ago, why would his orphaned son need protection?" it was James San Luca, who is known as Wolf who questioned him. Being the leader, it wasn't surprising.

"Because, Mr San Luca, the boy was taken in by Jaguar's brother, Panther, or as the world knew him, Ian Joshua Rider. Last month, Scorpia killed Ian for messing up their plans. It was when they researched Ian, as they do before they kill them; they discovered that Ian was not only John's brother, but had John's only living descendant. They were still angry at John. That's part of why they killed Rider. Anyway, Ian had a housekeeper who took custody of the boy, but last week she too was killed at their house in front of Alex, who is John's son. He is… understandably distraught."

The Unit had been uncharacteristically quiet during Blunt's description. Thinking about Jaguar and Panther brought back harsh memories of when they had been told they'd died. They hadn't spent much time together, but John and Ian were both memorable men, who had been amazing at camp.

Eagle and Fox didn't mind protecting a kid for a while; it was just another assignment to them. They'd never even thought about kids coming into the picture. Especially this, probably emotionally messed up, kid, who Scorpia might possibly want to kill. Poor kid though. Eagle did almost like this, to him, being the immature and childish one of the group, it was someone else who might pull pranks with him and share the blame.

Wolf didn't want to look after some kid, but he wanted to at the same time. He had always admired the two brothers, and wanted to make it up to them when they saved his life, by protecting the only living Rider. But then again, he didn't want a kid! He was confused and just didn't know what to do.

Snake was already decided. Not only did he not want to back down from an assignment, which is something he's never done before, but he wanted to look after and protect an innocent child from the clutches of Scorpia, the world's most ruthless criminal organisation. Especially the son of Jaguar, who he too, like wolf, admired. And he had been almost friends with Panther. He couldn't let them down. He wouldn't. Not only this, but he felt he was mentally ready to look after a child. He was now 33, and almost like the mother of the unit, not to mention the medic.

There was silence. But Wolf broke it. "Sir, I, we…."

Snake shot him a death glare. He wanted this and had a feeling Wolf was just about to decline.

"I think we need to talk this over, Mr Blunt…" Wolf began.

Blunt looked at them sharply, but agreed none the less: "yes of course, take as long as you need"

The words sounded innocent enough, but Wolf knew that he didn't want them to take forever; he wanted a quick decision, a yes.

Snake stood up and dragged Wolf out of the office and into the corridor, taken by surprise, he didn't stop him. Eagle and Fox followed behind them.

"…what the hell Snake, you can't expect us to look after a kid, much less protect him from bloody Scorpia! We can't even keep a flipping plant alive, and you expect us to look after a 5 year old? Are you insane?" Wolf was practically growling at him.

"Jeez Wolf, calm down!" Eagle exclaimed, alarmed by Wolf's sudden turn.

"Wolf. We owe this to John and Ian. The kids vulnerable and needs someone to protect him. And when have we ever turned down an assignment, eh?" Snake countered. He was right. Wolf didn't answer him. It was true, they'd never turned down a mission, so why now?

"Exactly Wolf, never."

Wolf looked up at his team mates. Snake's face was confident. And Eagle and Fox agreed with him. Wolf was cornered and he knew it, sighing in admitted defeat so the unit would know as he trudged back into the office.

As they entered the room, Blunt looked up from the file he was reading. From the looked on their faces, he gathered that they were going to agree. He knew they would from reading their files.

"Mr Blunt we accept the assignment, could you give us a bit more detail on the mission please?" Wolf asked, keeping his voice low.

"Okay. Glad you have agreed. Anyway, we want you to take him into your house for 2 months until we get Scorpia to leave him alone for sure, and during this time you will be paid as if it was a normal assignment. I have a debit card to give to you, Mr McCarthy. That will pay for his food and clothing and whatever."

Snake looked up. "Why me sir?" he asked. He was puzzled why Blunt had said him, but also glad because he wanted to get the responsibility for Alex. Snake knew what was coming next.

"Well one of you has to sign fostering documents, as we have to do this legally. Of course. And you are legally approved for fostering, are you not?" it was a rhetorical question; he and everyone else in the room already knew the answer. Snake had considered being a foster parent and/or social worker, before he joined the SAS.

"Yes sir" Snake signed the documents and took an envelope that contained Alex's passport, the debit card and some other things he might need, for long term, as well as short. Did Blunt know that he was considering looking after the kid, even after the protection job was finished? It was impossible, although the man wasn't the head of MI6 for nothing, was he?

Wolf was beginning to get impatient. He wasn't a patient man anyway, especially when he was nervous and flustered.

The short, grey haired man, at the desk typed something in his computer and looked up at the SAS men before him, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into, he thought amusingly to himself. It wasn't often he thought like that, but this was a special case including a 5 year old that could be very useful to him in the future.

"One of my agents will bring him up, his rucksack as well."

Fox was suspicious. Blunt was keeping something from them, and he didn't like it. They waited for a minute or so, and then they heard the sound of two people's footsteps, only one sounded as if they were being dragged. Then the sound came from a high pitched, young voice; "hey get off me, leave me alone, let me go, I wanna go home, get off!" Despite the protests, the other the footsteps continued as there were no protests or little people in this case, Snake could guess.

The door opened and an emotionless man dressed in a dark suit and sunglasses stepped in, dragging a small blonde haired figure in behind him.

The boy looked up, and the K-Unit gasped.

Alex was a miniature John. Blonde hair that hung in strands over his forehead and eyes, deep dark brown eyes and a natural tan. Hell, even the lips, nose and eyes were the same shape, as were his ears. It was frightening.

Everyone was shocked. Well the K-unit was. Blunt was looking at Rider, waiting for him to do something, react to the men in the room.

Alex looked at the 4 big men looking at him open mouthed. He was terrified. He hated it in here, and he didn't like the look of the big men, and he hated the mean man who had dragged him into this room with the grey man that didn't show any facial expressions. He just wanted to go home to be with Jack, but she had died right in front of him. The blood had been horrific. He had cried. But he didn't cry now, not in front of these weird men.

The mean man still had hold of his collar. He gritted his teeth, kicked him in the private's, making his collapse, and ran out the door, sprinting out of the fake bank and hopefully never returning.

Eagle was watching Alex curiously, waiting to see what he would do, and could've laughed when he kicked the man in the nuggets and made a runner. But then his thoughts turned to Scorpia, who were possibly out to kill the kid, so he ran out the room after him, Fox running at his heels. He too had come to that conclusion, not to mention he really didn't want to spend his night looking for a 5 year old around London. They ran out the bank, and were about to turn left, when they saw a flask of blonde turn the corner to their right, without any communication, they ran off to the right.

Wolf was still frozen like ice in shock. That boy was like a young John. And the way his eyes had scanned the room, and then made a hasty decision to kick and run, it was just like John once was, before the SAS. They had been collage friends, and then joined the army, and then were selected for the elites together. Losing him was hard. And now another version of him had shown up. It was just too much.

Snake had taken in everything and summed it up, fast. No-one else had noticed, but the look in the kid's eyes was fear. It was clear that he was terrified. He vowed to make that right. No 5 year old should feel like that.

The unfortunate agent recovered from the kick, and hastily left the room.

"Well, no you have met Alex; I think this session is over, you may return back to your house. You'll find his car seat in the lobby, his bag is there by the door, and tomorrow someone will drop round the rest of his things. You'll find when you get back there will be a bed, wardrobe, mattress and cabinet for him. All you have to do is put it together. I have to go now, but Mrs Jones would like to speak with you for a moment." And with that, Blunt walked out of his office, leaving them alone.

"Did you see him Snake? He was a mini John, and an escape artist! What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?" Wolf whispered.

"Yes, and did you see he was terrified? The kid's whole life has ripped apart and turned upside down! He's confused and alone and all you can think is what we've got to deal with!"

Wolf was astounded by the venom and hostility of Snake's words. He almost blushed.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? I've never dealt with kids before and I hadn't noticed he was scared because I was too shocked he was so like John!" Wolf apologized.

Snake's expression, once angry, softened into a slight smile. "Yeah okay I get what you mean. I'm scared too"

Right on cue, Mrs Jones walked in. She was a middle aged black woman with long dark hair, and an expressionless face like everyone else around MI6. The 2 men stood and saluted to her. She waved her hand as a gesture for them to be at ease. She was summing up David McCarthy and James San Luca. Snake, David, was the one she was most interested in. He was the one that Blunt claimed would end up adopting Alex. She was concerned for the boy's wellbeing, she cared, and it was her maternal instincts that did it. Her trained eyes scanned the room for danger, and when she found none, she stood formally to the right of Blunt's desk whilst the town men stayed standing, and alert.

"Snake, Wolf, I have come to give you some information about Alex that no file would contain because it is more on his personal side than any other, and what you need to do, do you understand?"

Wolf nodded. Basically she was giving us personal information about the kid, and almost helping us to understand and help him. Beside him, Snake nodded too.

"Now, I would appreciate it if you don't interrupt me whilst I tell you this. Understand?" she asked, tonelessly. They nodded again.

"Alex is just a child caught up in the world of espionage. He is little and he is afraid. Although he may not seem it sometimes, he is still only a 5 year old little boy with no-one in the world to turn to. He is confused. You, as a foster parent Snake, need to explain to him the situation as best you can to make him understand it fully, but you mustn't include the parts about spy's and assassins. That can wait until he's older, much older." She finished her longs speech, curtly nodded and left the room, once again leaving Snake and Wolf alone.

"Come on lets go. Eagle and Fox would've caught him by now, they're probably already waiting." Wolf said, unsure of what Snake was thinking, because he had his poker face on, showing no emotion. But Snake nodded and they left the room, picking up the big blue rucksack as they went.

Eagle followed Alex round the corner, and through the grave yard the kid had decided to run though. But after on 30 seconds he caught up with that little blonde haired boy, grabbing him under the armpits and lifting him up, yanking him back from the ground. Caught by surprise, Alex stopped moving, but only for a second, before he started struggling and kicking and shouting to tell the man to let him go. Eagle attempted to calm him, but with no such luck.

Fox came over to where he heard the shouting. Being a strategist, he slowed down and waited slightly, just in case Alex backtracked. Evidently, he didn't. Alex was going to hurt himself by struggling and kicking so violently. He was obviously panicking.

"Alex, Alex, it's okay kid were not gonna hurt you, just stop struggling, you're gonna hurt yourself." Fox said in his best 'soothing' voice. It didn't work. If anything, he started trying to escape even more. Fox decided to take the physical approach by grabbing his flailing arms and pulling them to his little side. By being restrained like this, Alex stopped kicking and struggling but continued shouting, only louder.

"Alex, shhhh." Fox said. That didn't work either.

"ALEX WILL YOU PLEASE STOP SHOUTING AND STRUGGLING YOUR GONNA HURT YOURSLEF, WERE ONLY HERE TO HELP!" Fox shouted at the top of his voice. Alex froze. And started trembling.

He wriggled and kicked and punched and tried everything he could to make this man let go of him. He was absolutely terrified. Who were these strong men who held him up and kept his arms by his side? And when the mean man shouted, he started trembling absentmindedly. Shouting at him brought back the bad memories he tried so hard to ignore.

The man holding him spoke to the mean man for the first time; "Fox why the hell did you shout? Now the kids gonna bloody hate you!" the man was right. He did now hate the mean man. "Eagle the kid was gonna flipping hurt himself, I think he already has!" that man was right too. When he was kicking his ankle had started really hurting. Alex wasn't sure if these men were either weird or crazy, because they were both named after animals.

Alex was hanging limply in Eagle's arms, not moving nor doing much apart from breathing. Breathing was a good sign though. Gently, he lowered Alex to the ground, turned him around and let him go. He wasn't putting any weight on his right ankle though, so Eagle put a hand on the boy's right arm to take some of the weight for him. Which Alex gratefully leant on. Eagle was surprised by how light and fragile he was. Boy, this was harder than he anticipated.

"Alex, are you alright? Does your ankle hurt?" he said in his most comforting voice. Alex just nodded. "Okay then. We're not gonna hurt you, were gonna look after you. So are you gonna come to our car without running or attacking us?" Eagle asked again, softly and gently. They boy nodded again, vigorously. "Ok then let's go!" he exclaimed, his mature moment fading fast. Fox rolled his eyes. This fully trained adult SAS soldier couldn't be mature for more than 5 minutes at a time, once a month or so. It was amazing he passed selection.

Eagle walked off, Alex at his side, but was struggling to walk. He was tired, still slightly terrified and his ankle was hurting. The nice man, he now decided, who was apparently called Eagle, noticed he was limping. "Alex do you want a shoulder ride?" he asked quietly. Alex face brightened up, "yeah!" Alex grinned, his face shining. Eagle grinned, chuckling. The kids smile was contagious!

Eagle squatted and Alex jumped on his shoulders, laughing as the man stood up and he was suddenly 6ft off the ground. He started running, laughing to himself when Alex started making plane noises like a normal little 5 year old. The man waited until a chucking Fox caught up with them before continuing again, only this time walking normally as they reached the road.

Snake was reading through Alex's health record in the passenger seat, like any medic would, and Wolf was in the driver's seat, assembling and reassembling his .9mm Browning he carried at all times, when Eagle, Fox and Alex returned. It was quite a sight.

Two burly tall men were walking in their normal cautious walk, only they were both grinning and laughing like idiots, oh and the youngest one had a 5 year old on his shoulders, laughing and grinning just like them. But when they passed the entrance to the Royal & General, Alex tensed and the smile faded, replaced by a mix of coldness and fear.

Eagle, sensing Alex's tension, quickened his pace and whispered quietly so only Alex could hear "come on kiddo, don't worry" Alex just nodded.

When they reached the truck, which was a Nissan Navarra, he slid Alex off his shoulders and opened the door. But Alex didn't climb in; he just looked up at Eagle doubtfully. "Oh yeah, sorry Al!" Eagle gently lifted him into the car seat and did up the seatbelt for him. Eagle shut the door and him and Fox climbed in the truck. Wolf had slid the gun in his pocket just before they reached the car, so he didn't scare Alex when he saw it.

They drove away from MI6, each adult thinking about the one person that could change their lives: Alex.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

There's the first chapter, I've made a few changes to the one that was posted yesterday :D actually, I think there's only one difference. Oh well anyway this is my first story so thanks for all the reviews that I've already had! Plz review so I can make it better! x


	2. ankles, and secret ticklish spots

**Chapter 2 **

_Snake POV_

I was reading Alex's birth certificate when they came back. Alex was on Eagle's shoulders, and Fox was walking next to him. To my surprise, they were all laughing and grinning like fools. It made me happy knowing that Alex wasn't a total loss, that he still had hope of finding happiness and trust again. It brightened my thoughts, but as they passed _that_ bank, his face fell immediately. The happy child a few seconds back was replaced with a haunted shell of what once was. It was frightening. Little Alex was obviously deeply confused about who and what he should hate and trust, but I understood where he was coming from. I hated MI6 as much as he did. Eagle too noticed how the boy was upset, and changed his pace radically, which I was grateful for, although I would never say that because, well, this was Eagle.

When they arrived at the car and he put Alex down, I was tense that he would run away, but he just looked at Eagle as if to say 'well come on then aren't you gonna help me up!' I was right because then he lifted him into the truck and did up the seatbelt for him. I turned around and scanned him down, a rough medical check which was a habit for me. The way he was holding his ankle up made me think that there might be something wrong with it, and I was right.

As we drove away, Alex turned to look out of the window. It turns out he was fascinated by the white lines in the centre of the road and the rickshaw's that sped past us as we queued in the traffic. After about 5 minutes he laid his head on the headrest of his children's car seat and within a minute, he was sleeping. Breathing in and out, limply leaning against the seat belt, his face smooth and calm, he looked just like any other child should. It was nice to see him like this.

"Well, that went well, in the end!" Fox exclaimed troubled.

"What happened when you chased him then?" I asked, wondering how they not only managed to get him to the car but to make him that happy.

"Well we chased him and he was running through a grave yard, trying to ditch us. And I caught him. He was struggling and kicking and punching me and stuff, yelling his head off. I was worried he might hurt himself, which he did actually; you should check that out Snake, he's not putting any weight on his right ankle."

"Yeah, continue" I said. I really wanted to know how they got control of the little tyke.

"Anyway, so Foxy boy here restrained his arms so he stopped fighting but continued shouting and screaming. He tried to calm him down by talking but he kept going. Then the idiot shouted at Alex, which made him shut up alright, but he just went silent and limp, like someone had knocked him out, only he was conscious and stuff. Then I, ummm, yeah got him on my shoulders and we, well messed around and stuff. But when he was just hanging there limp, I thought there was something seriously wrong, I mean I was actually almost panicking!"

I was stunned. Why had Alex reacted like that when Fox shouted at him? Just another mystery that is Rider, I thought to myself.

I looked over at Wolf; he had his eyes on the car in front as we queued in the London traffic. Fox was frowning, clearly troubled over something: most probably Alex. Eagle was watching him sleep, which most would consider as creepy but this is (A) Eagle, so what can we expect and (B) he was moving slightly, so Eagle was probably curious is he was just dreaming or waking up.

Fortunately, we didn't have to have our question be answered, because when we got to our house, the sound of the wheels crunching on the gravel woke him up.

_Alex POV_

I didn't mean to fall asleep. Because of the nightmares. But I was tired and it was accidental. The scary things I see when I shut my eyes were just starting when all of a sudden I woke up to the sound of crunching stones, I think.

I looked up and rubbed my eyes. All the big men were staring at me, including the nice one the mean one called Eagle. I yawned and gave them my best death glare, which actually worked because they all turned around and got out of the car. Eagle undid my seatbelt for me. I hated those things. I'm not very sure how to undo it so I have to wait for someone else to come and do it. I got out of my seat and tried to get out of the car, but when I lent on my sore foot I sort of fell.

I didn't wanna fall, and it's really good because one of the other men caught me. It was the one with the black curly hair and glasses. I looked up at him, wondering what he was gonna do next.

_Snake POV_

I panicked as he almost fell out of the car. Even Wolf, who was behind me, rushed forward. I'm just so glad I caught him. I had him in my arms as he looked up at me with those button brown eyes. I walked a few steps with him hanging in my arms, when he wiggled slightly, trying to get down I assumed, I let him, to see what he would do. It was vital after all to let children do things themselves, and learn from mistakes, after all.

He winced as he put weight on it, but I watched in amazement as he slowly hobbled to the house. Wolf was at my side, watching as well. I sighed in my amazement and walked up to the house with the leader of my unit.

_Wolf POV _

I'll admit it. I'm scared of this reasonability. Because I know if we mess this mission up, the son of our team mate, also the nephew of another, an innocent child that was caught up in this, will die. I think I'm already starting to feel slightly guilty. I just don't know why.

It was just amazing that, at 5, he cared about his dignity and made himself suffer just to prove to them he was capable. I was chuckling slightly as he entered the hallway. Inside, Snake was trying to get a grimacing Alex to let him pick him up and take him into the kitchen to let him have a look at his ankle, but Alex was having none of it.

"Come on Al; just let me take you to the kitchen so I make your ankle better!" Snake pleaded. Wolf raised his eyebrows at this. Snake never pleaded or begged. He usually got his way when it came to anything medical or about health.

"No I'm fine. Just let me go home!" Alex whined. Yep, he was definitely a 5 year old!

"Al. You're not fine. And were not gonna take you home okay? You're staying with us for a while." Snake stated, almost as if it was a fact.

Just then Eagle came downstairs from checking the house for bombs, dangerous weapons that 'Alex might hurt himself with' (as Snake put it earlier) and any listening devices, bugs, anything really. He hadn't found any bombs or anything like that, but he did find, in total, 13 knives, 6 guns and a rifle at heights Alex could reach, so he simply put them higher. Out of reach.

_Eagle POV _

When I came down stairs from my 'get the weapons out of a 5 year olds reach so he won't accidently shoot or stab himself' job, I found Snake, the mother and the maturest of our unit, on the brink of an argument with little Al. Wolf was watching from the door and smiling crookedly, whilst Fox had decided to go and get himself something to eat. He was a little selfish sometimes but that was just him. I couldn't change it, not that I'd tried too…

I caught their conversation as it was coming to a close, thanks to me:

"What's the problem Alex?" Snake asked in his 'nice voice'.

"Don't wanna be carried, and I don't trust you" Alex growled.

Before Snake counter that argument, I decided to intervene. I could see that he wasn't getting anywhere.

"Al, he needs to help you with you ankle, so what about if I carry you to the kitchen, eh?" I asked. Not softly, just, nicely.

His eyes scanned me like a hawks, he had a frown on his face and I could tell he was rolling around whether or not to trust me. We all waited in silence to see what his reply would be. To my surprise, he just nodded.

Snake stood up and went to the kitchen, Wolf went into the lounge to watch TV and I crouched down to pick up Al, we've decided to call him (and seeming as he hasn't argued about it yet, I've figured he doesn't mind), I lifted him gently. He was as stiff as a post, and trembling too. I seriously think this kid has some serious trust issues. And other issues, I'm just not sure what they are yet, I just know that they are there.

I walked carefully into our kitchen and placed him in the breakfast bar. I sat down on the chair to the left of him and Snake stood right in front of him. He gently pulled off Al's shoe and sock, making Alex wince only a couple of times. His ankle was purple and swollen. Fox walked in, and in seeing the ankle, let out a low whistle. "Wow Al, you really must've put some force into those kicks of yours!" he said.

I rubbed my thigh. "Yeah he did!" I exclaimed in my best 'feel sorry for me voice'. This earned a laugh from every soldier in the room. Al's eyes weren't leaving Snake, who was feeling around his ankle delicately.

"Alex it's just a bad sprain. But that does mean you should rest it for today and tomorrow morning, then you can start walking on it again, okay?" Snake told him professionally.

"Ummm-"Al began, but I looked at him in my best 'do as your told because that's what's best for you' look (yes I do give people a wide variety of looks) and so he agreed. Reluctantly though. Alex wouldn't let Snake but on the ankle support though, so, naturally, I did it, seeming as I knew basic first aid training from my training in the SAS.

_Alex POV_

I liked this house a bit. But it wasn't warm; it was cold and nearly all blue and white. I don't like it when people pick me up because simply I wasn't used to it. But I still let that Eagle man because I've decided that he's not going to hurt me. He's been nice to me. And that curly haired one with the weird voice was gentle and seemed okayish but I don't trust him. I don't even trust the man named after a bird, I'm just starting to like him. Curly hair gave me a drink of something that tasted like strawberries. It was really nice.

"Alex do you want to choose which bed sheets you want?" Curly haired asked him. Why would I get to choose what bed sheets I wanted? I'd never chosen before. My old ones were blue. So were my walls. The rest of my stuff in my room had been white. I had loved my old room. I missed it so much. Just like I missed Uncle Ian. Just like I really really really missed Jack.

_3__rd__ person POV_

Alex's eyes looked lost. Snake was waiting for him to answer the question, but he looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown. They waited in silence. But Eagle, who was (as everyone knows) slightly (understatement) hyper active, and couldn't wait. He was like a flipping bomb, ticking, exploding when he just couldn't wait any longer.

"Alex what bed sheets do you want in your room?" he exclaimed. Snake shot him his best 'death glare' which worked very effectively. The SAS man was cowering in his seat.

Alex looked up, tears were brimming in his deep brown eyes but he held them back. Lips quivering slightly, he replied "Blue." Bluntly and simply. The former hostility had returned, and Snake picked up on the sudden mood turn.

"Okay Al, do you mind MacDonald's for dinner?" Snake asked. The unit had take-away every night and never bothered to fill up the fridge. It was just used for their beers and ciders. But tomorrow, Snake had decided, they would top up their fridge with _real _food, not left over pizza or curry or whatever they'd eaten that night.

Alex's face brightened at the thought of MacDonald's, but fell almost instantly. He loved MacDonald's, the food was delicious, but Ian had never let him have it, it was only when he was on business trips Jack would take him there. And only once during the whole time he went.

Snake saw how his face climbed high, higher than he'd seen all day, and how his face fell a hell of a lot further than it climbed. Just like when you climb a mountain. You reach the top, but then you go down, and it feels further down than up.

He vowed to help him climb that mountain. But it was a hell of a climb, and he just wasn't sure if Alex would fall if they reached the summit. If he was too fall. It was a long way down. He knew that personally. And it was hard. Especially for a 5 year old!

_Eagle POV_

When Alex's face fell, his expression changed into one of great loss of pain, and his eyes. _His eyes._ They were haunted, he looked older. Like he was drowning in lost memories.

Being an adult who was trained to save someone, I wanted to throw him a life line. I just didn't flipping know how.

"Eagle, will you take Al into the lounge and put something on the TV he likes?" Snake interrupted my line of thought, bringing me back to reality.

I nodded and stood. "Hey Al, want a piggy back?" I asked playfully.

His face lit up slightly "yeah please." So I crouched down and he slid onto my back and put his hands round my neck, clinging to my shirt. I hoisted him up, but as I did my hand scraped the side of his body, making him laugh. He was ticklish! I pretended I didn't notice and charged into the lounge.


	3. Phineas and Ferb

**Here's the 3****rd**** chapter guys! Reviews are still very much appreciated and I 3 anyone who reads and then reviews coz it really helps when I'm writing to have the reviews!**

**It's a bit shorter than the other chapters but still here it is! Enjoy! X**

**::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

_Fox POV_

Eagle barged into the lounge, making me and Wolf jump. But he didn't notice that, he just ran in with a laughing Alex on his back.

He slid Alex round to the front of him and we were all very confused, including the kid himself. Just as he put him down on the sofa, Eagle suddenly started tickling him under his armpits and down his side.

And Alex was laughing his head off, wriggling and screaming and generally being a little 5 year old. Wolf was just watching in something I'm guessing is amazement. I myself started laughing as well. It was really quite funny. The TV was forgotten. Right now everyone's attention was focused on the kid.

5 minutes later, Eagle finally stopped tickling Alex, who was hiccupping; his face wet with tears of laughter and generally looked very…cute. His clothes were all ruffled and his hair was static and very messed up. It was all very innocent and almost made me forget of the situation at hand. Almost.

Then Eagle came over and nabbed the TV controls from me, and out of reflex, I made to punch him, which missed as he ducked, and connected with Wolf's head. Wolf growled and stood up, fists clenched. Eagle walked over to Alex, who was sitting in front of the TV and sat in between him and Wolf. It was obvious Eagle wanted to see a fight, because he was childish like that, but the way he sat was protective, defensive. Alex didn't notice the fact that Wolf was angry as he flicked through the channels with the remote Eagle handed him. Should he have let a 5 year old pick through all the channels without supervision? It didn't matter really because I had an angry Wolf coming at me. Before I could think I found myself out the door, having absentmindedly run, with Wolf behind me. I ran towards the back door, hoping Snake would intercept us on the way. I made it worst for myself though, when I looked back, and on seeing his expression, I actually laughed. Wolf literally lurched forward with a fist, which only made me scramble forwards for the door.

_3__rd__ person POV _

Whilst Wolf was chasing Fox, Alex was watching a TV program, but when Eagle turned to look at the screen for the first time, he discovered that Alex had turned on _Big Brother_!

"Alex!" he exclaimed, grabbing the TV remote from the 5 year old and switched the channel to Disney Channel, which made Alex frown.

"What?" he cried, his bottom lip quivering.

Eagle sighed. It was obvious that this boy hadn't ever really watched television properly. "Alex you can only put on TV shows from certain channels because they're, ummm… … … SNAKE!" he bellowed at the end of the sentence.

Snake came in and stood, arms crossed. "What Eagle, can't you handle anything for 5 minutes! What is it!" his expression showed that he was agitated.

Rolling his eyes, he replied "can you explain to Alex why he can only watch kids TV programs and not things like Big Brother?"

Snake's expression softened at this, and he crouched down to see eye level with a very confused, and now weary, Alex.

"Al you can only watch programs from the kids section because… well you just can't, don't question it." Snake said, bluntly. Eagle was surprised how badly he had handled that, but he kept his face neutral and his lips sealed, for once.

Alex was silent. How was he supposed to know what he could and couldn't watch! Ian had only ever let him watch movies and kids TV programs, but with all those channels, how did he know which ones were suitable!

Snake left the room to go and deal with Wolf and Fox, who were currently wrestling in the garden. He sighed and shouted out the back door; "Guys get your idiot ***** in here now!" his tone was menacing. He knew it would work if he said it like that. The two idiots got up, Wolf punched Fox, who punched him back and then they came inside.

"Alex's bedroom furniture is outside the front door. Take it upstairs and build it, will you?" Snake commanded.

They wanted to argue, but then again no one liked an angry Snake. Once when he was angry with them for putting custard in his shampoo bottle, he did health checks on each of them for a week. No one wanted a repeat of that, especially when he flipped because Eagle had a splinter in his thumb. It was hilarious though.

They nodded and headed to get the furniture and the tool box from the garage.

_Eagle POV_

Alex and I were watching Disney channel. The suite life on deck was surprisingly good. It might've been a bit too old for a 5 year old, but he almost threw a fit when I tried to change it to cbeebies, so I left it on for him. The kids a genius though, I think. He got the plot of it before I did! Admittedly I'm not the cleverest person in the world, but still.

Snake barged in the door, car keys in hand.

"Come on gu-"he started, but I cut him off.

"Shhhh I wanna see if Cody and Bailey are gonna break up or not!" I exclaimed. He rolled his eyes and Alex laughed.

After a minute or so, the charming man got impatient and turned off the TV. I began to argue but he just said "I'm going to get the food. And his bed sheets. So don't leave the house and Wolf and Fox are upstairs, okay?"

He spoke to me like a bloody child, but I took this seriously, because it was.

Snake looked at Alex. "Alex what do you want from McDonalds?" he asked kindly. If only he could speak to me like that!

Alex pondered on it, before answering "Fish Fingers and the toy!"

I couldn't help but laugh. He was actually cute when he wasn't attacking anyone, and frowning and being cautious. Snake nodded and left the room, leaving us alone. His attention returned to the TV when Phineas & Ferb came on.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

_Wolf POV_

After we finished with that bloody furniture, which is flipping hard with an idiot like _Fox _to help me, I went back down stairs to find Eagle and Alex watching _Disney Channel_! It was a cartoon they were watching with 2 kids, one with green hair…, building impossible things whilst their crazy sister tried to snitch on them. It was actually quite entertaining. I sat down to watch it, and before long Fox came in and watched it too. It was back to back for an hour. Alex and Eagle both lay down and watched it on their stomachs, right in front of the TV. And that was how Snake found us an hour later.

_Snake POV_

I came in to find the rest of my unit and Alex watching cartoons, completely focused, they didn't even notice that I came in!

"Guys foods here!" I exclaimed, and watched in glee as they all jumped out of their skins. Wolf even went for his gun, until it registered in his brain that it was me, and not some crazy imposter or terrorist.

"Jesus Snake, are you trying to kill me mate, I almost had a flipping heart attack!" Fox exclaimed.

"Yeah same!" Eagle whined.

I sniggered and walked to the kitchen, dumping the food on the table as I went. They all grabbed a burger, chips and cokes, whilst Alex was handed a happy meal box and an orange juice. I got a straw from the cupboard, because I forgot to get one from the fast food place.

As I came in, the soldiers were eating like the animals they were codenamed. Eagle was picking out the gherkin of his burger, pecking at it like a bird, Wolf was wolfing down the food, Fox was scavenging at stealing chips from _my _chip pot. Even Cub was acting like a cub, he couldn't get the lid of his orange juice, frowning in frustration he carried on trying until I came over and did it for him. I slid the straw in and handed it back to him. He cocked his head to the side, as if to say 'why did you help me' but didn't comment none the less.

Snatching the chip pot from Fox and grabbing my burger from the bag, I sat down and dug into the food.

_Alex POV_

My food was really tasty. I had a couple of chips and 2 fish fingers. I just haven't got an appetite any more. Not since Jack died. I started chewing on straw, bored when the curly haired man, who the nice on called Snake, talked to me.

"Alex aren't you going to eat more of your food?"

I shook my head and said "I'm not hungry"

He was quite for a minute, then he spoke again; "What have you had to eat today?"

I thought for a minute, and then said "ummm, I had banana and dinner."

I waited for him to do something. Uncle Ian used to get mad at me if I didn't eat 3 times a day, even If it was too much food. I shook my head. Why did everything I do make me think about Uncle Ian, and then Jack? They had gone to sleep and I tried not to think about them but they kept coming back, especially in my nightmares that woke me up in the middle of the night. I shuddered and tried not to think about night time. I hated going to sleep. I tried to avoid it but in the end I always ended up falling for it. I hated it.


	4. paternal instincts

This chapter is short, like the last one, but I still hope you readers enjoy it! XD and please comment, constructive criticism is helpful!

_Alex POV (Still)_

The reptile man glared at me, and I felt myself lean back, and wanted to run away. "Alex" he was growling now, "Eat the rest of your food."

I ate my food. The man was scaring me.

When I finished my food, they were talking and drinking from cans. Yawning, I took the last sip of my orange juice, and the man Snake looked up. I could feel myself almost falling asleep.

"Alex are you tired?" he asked me, really nicely actually!

I shook my head, and he was about to answer but I blurted out; "can I go and watch TV?"

He didn't answer me for a second, and I wondered if he would just get mad at me and shout, but instead he said "yes, make sure you only watch the kid's channels."

I nodded and practically ran, as fast as I could with a hurt ankle, to the other room before anyone could stop me.

_3__rd__ person_

Wolf eyed Snake suspiciously. He couldn't understand why the man hadn't sent the 5 year old to bed, because it was just gone 8:30.

"Snake why the hell did you do that, he should be in bed, it's like 8:30!" Eagle blurted out, practically saying what Wolf had though.

Snake cleared his throat and leaned forward slightly. "I didn't want an argument with the kid, he's had a hard enough day as it is, so I said he could watch TV" he said, speaking as if it made all the sense in the world.

"Yeah but now he's gonna go to sleep even later!" Eagle exclaimed.

The mature adult rolled his eyes and lent back, casually saying "ahh that's where you're wrong. If you had looked hard enough, you would've found that his eyes were half closed and he was yawning like there's no tomorrow. I bet you, give it 5 minutes, he'll be deeply asleep in there" with the last word he pointed his thumb towards the lounge door, where they could hear the faint sound of 'the suite life on deck' playing.

Eagle's face brightened, and he shouted "ok I bet you £5 he'll be awake!"

Everyone, minus Eagle, rolled their eyes, but Snake stuck his hand out and muttered "deal". The immature adult shook the others vigourously, and they waited 5 minutes, Fox timing on his phone.

….

When the 5 minutes were up, the four SAS men crept into the lounge, and to Eagle's dismay, Alex was asleep on the floor. "Damn!" Eagle shouted. This made Alex stir. As Fox and Wolf both punched Eagle for being an idiot, Snake went over to Alex, and as if he were going to break at any moment, lifted him up into his arms.

Alex's eyes fluttered half open, and he muttered "wha….?"

"shhhh Alex it's alright, I'm just taking you bed" Snake muttered softly, and was incredibly surprised when he wrapped his little arms around his neck, and was about to ask him if he was okay, but Alex had already fallen under by that time.

The unit watched the little scene. They were amazed how _paternal _he was to the young boy, and how sure he was about what he did. But because of this, they were surprised about how _nervous _he was, such as when he picked up Alex. He was as stiff as a post. And the shock on his face when the little boy wrapped his arms around the man's neck, absentmindedly.

_Snake POV_

I carried the sleeping Alex up the stairs, still shocked by the arms that were wrapped around my neck, and the legs that had were wrapped around my torso. But, despite my shock, it felt…right. It felt perfectly normal to have a 5 year old clinging to my neck, to feel a heartbeat against my chest, to hear the gentle breathing of young lungs. It was a weird sensation for me, and I couldn't understand it.

I continued walking up the stairs, taking caution with every step, walking slowly so I had less chance of falling over something someone else had left as a death trap. Sometimes I just wanted to murder the rest of my unit, the left all their things lying around all the time; it drove him up the flipping wall!

As I gently deposited him onto his brand new, white wooden, bed with the blue sheets, he stirred slightly. The boy's eyes shot open, alarmed and wide. Al began to cry out, but I shushed him soothingly, pulling him onto my lap as I sat down. Slowly rocking him, I continued whispering words of comfort, and, after a while, he calmed down, taking in deep breaths of air. I was startled by how he had reacted. As he gradually fell asleep again, I laid him down on the bed once more. I pulled the cover over him and tucked it round the edges of his small frame. I had left him in his clothes, as I didn't want to wake him _again_.

"Night Alex." I whispered as I shut the door. I know he couldn't hear me but it felt right, like the other feelings I had discovered today.


	5. accidents and hiding

Alex woke and looked around his brand new room. He liked this room, but it wasn't _his _room, not the one he had had at home with Ian and Jack.

Then suddenly the boy realised that he was in his clothes in a bad, but the last thing he remembered was watching TV! Someone must have carried him to bed, he concluded with dismay. Because his ankle was barely hurting now, he hopped out of bed, but as his feet hit the floor, it gave way and he went crashing down, hitting his head on the desk as he went. Laying there, stunned as tears started freefalling down his face, he didn't notice Snake come in, or Fox.

Snake had run to Alex's room when he heard the _thump. _Throwing the door open, he ran over to the side of the bed, where he heard some snuffling and crying. He was lying on his side on the floor, crying as a small amount of blood trickled down his the side of his head. The medic barely noticed Fox come behind him as he lent down to the small figure on the floor. As gently as possible, the man lifted Alex up onto his bed. To Snake's surprise, Alex didn't argue with him about it, but instead he wrapped his arms round his neck and buried his head in the man's neck, sobbing. Fox retreated to the doorway and stood watching them, wanting to see how Snake would react to this.

Snake was startled by the boy's conscious actions, but he realised that Alex wanted comfort, so his paternal instincts kicked in, he hugged the blonde child back and rubbed circles on his small back, whispering words of comfort to him.

It wasn't until half an hour later that Alex fell asleep, so when he did Snake lay him down on the bed, and went to get medical supplies to clean his head and wipe away the blood.

When he was done he looked at his watch. It was 5:30! Tucking in Alex, the medic left the room, shutting the door lightly behind him.

"Snake…." Fox began, but the man just shook his head and walked back to his room, closed the door and flung himself on his bed, asleep in seconds.

Fox sat on his bed, pondering the night's events, but soon fell asleep, being up half the night really was tiring.

When Alex limped into the kitchen, the k-unit were already sitting at the breakfast bar, eating toast, reading newspapers and drinking coffee. As young Rider walked into the room, they all looked up simultaneously, slightly horrified by what they saw. Alex was looking ill. Dark circles hung under his eyes, which were half showing between the drooping eye lids. He looked pale too. Pausing in the doorway, Alex took in his surroundings, his eyes settling on the men in front of him. An awkward silence developed, no one quite sure what to do. It was Eagle, surprisingly, that broke this.

"Alex! Morning buddy! How was your night?" he exclaimed. Wolf really wanted to punch him, hard.

Alex looked around once again, his face read, wondering how to react to birdman. Snake saw his discomfort and stood up.

"Do you want some breakfast Alex?" he asked gently and softly.

Alex shook his head abruptly, and left the kitchen. They waited until his door closed from upstairs until they started talking.

"What the hell was that about?" Wolf exclaimed.

"The kid looked like ****" Eagle muttered, Fox nodded in agreement.

"He had a tough night last night. I had to go to his room at about 2:30ish. He must've got out of bed, fell down and hit his head on the corner of the desk as he fell. I had to pick him up and he hugged me, crying the whole time, he fell asleep a little while later, then I cleaned up his head and went back to bed, flipping shattered." Snake told them.

"Yeah and I watched" Fox muttered, making Eagle laugh. They gave him confused looks but decided not to ask. It was better that way when things concerned Eagle.

"We have to try and get through to him" Wolf concluded, after thinking about their current position.

"I agree. But we have to remember we are talking about a 5 year old here!" Snake said, and they lapsed into a silence, each man thinking about how they could help the unfortunate boy upstairs.

"I'm gonna go and get him dressed and washed" Snake said, excusing himself from the table.

Once at Alex's door, he knocked, but there was no answer, so he just opened it to find Alex sitting on his bed, tears streaming down his innocent face.

The SAS soldier walked over to him sat next to him, arms open. Alex caught the sign and crawled onto his lap, then looked up at Snake, wondering what he was here for.

"Do you want a bath Al?" Snake asked cautiously.

"Yeah please" he replied, wrapping one arm around Snake's neck, the other clutching a fistful of his shirt. He didn't want another person to leave him, and Alex decided that he was a nice person like Eagle.

So Snake grabbed fresh clothes for the boy and a towel, before heading to the bathroom, locking the door behind them and depositing Alex on the counter.

Snake ran the bath and added the bubble bath, and when he turned around, he found Alex actually looked half asleep, so Snake undressed his young ward and slipped into the bathtub.

"Alex you might want to wake up about now…" Snake stated. The boy merely nodded.

_Half an hour later_

Seeming as Alex was half asleep; he had decided to splash him a bit with the water, which definitely woke him up. Well, it actually did more than that…

"You ready to get out now Al?" Snake asked. The boy's fingers were wrinkled from being in the water too long.

"Nope! I wanna keep playing with the bubbles!" he exclaimed, before sliding under the water.

Snake rolled his eyes and lifted Alex out of the tub, much to his dislike, before wrapping the 5 year old in a big fluffy blue towel. He then dried him and gave him his underpants, which he rather quickly pulled on.

But then, being the 5 year he was, Alex decided that the bubbles were much more fun to play with than getting dressed, so Snake ended up carrying his ward to his bedroom and getting him dressed himself.

"You feeling better now Alex?" Snake asked, trying to get his attention, but failing miserably because they boy was now struggling against the firm grasp Snake held him in.

Alex yawned and stopped fighting, nodding as he did. The little boy was dressed in a Froggy t-shirt and some khaki trousers, along with some yellow socks, overall making him look adorably innocent.

Alex lent against Snake's chest, once again clutching the man's shirt. He wondered if Alex held onto him like that because he was scared of letting go, and he knew it was a definite possibility.

"What's your name?" Alex suddenly asked, and Snake could've hit himself. He had forgotten to tell the young boy his name!

"I'm called Snake" he replied, and was utterly taken aback when the 5 year old turned to face him, and _rolled his deep brown eyes._

"That's what the bird man said yesterday! But what's your real name!"

Snake sighed and gave in; "My name is David. Eagle's name is Matt. Fox's name is Ben and the other man, Wolf, is called James. Happy now?" he exclaimed.

Alex's stomach rumbled, and Snake began laughing at Alex's expression; he was gazing, horrified, at his small stomach. The man continued chuckling as he stood up, resting Alex on his hip, and walked downstairs to join the rest of his unit.

… … … … … … …

Half an hour later found Alex happily munching on buttered toast, as they had no jam, Eagle playing games on his HTC, Snake reading a section of his medical encyclopaedia labelled: treating children; wounds and illnesses. Wolf had gone to watch TV and Fox was showering.

He finished his breakfast and clambered onto Snake's lap, yawning again. The man had come to the conclusion that the behaviour and side of Alex they had seen yesterday; older than he really was, was purely out of his fear and anger. This boy sitting on his lap was young and innocent.

"Alex can you write?" Snake said suddenly.

"Ummm I can write my name and all the letters in al-al-alp-"

"Alphabet?" Snake asked, completing the boy's sentence. Said boy nodded.

"Eagle can you pass me a piece of paper and a pen?" the medic asked, but the idiot of the unit ignored him, captivated by his childish game.

Snake threw a bread crust at Eagle's face, causing him to fall off his chair in surprise. Alex laughed.

"What was that for!" Eagle exclaimed, but Snake merely shrugged and replied: "pass us a piece of paper and a pen."

Eagle stood up and got the things asking, the whole time muttering curses in flawless German, which he was fluent in, along with Spanish, French, Polish and Russian.

Alex grasped the pen, and held it correctly. His eye brows knitted together in concentration, he wrote out the alphabet, followed by his name. His writing was big and messy, but the point was that he could write, and from reading his file Snake discovered, with disgust, that he hadn't been to school. It said it was due to his issues, but the SAS man wasn't stupid. He knew it was because MI6 wanted to turn Alex into a weapon, and the kid knew a lot about them. They wanted complete control of the boy's life. Stupid Alan Blunt, the man thought bitterly.

Eagle too watched Alex write, and then had a silent conversation with Snake, to find they both thought the same things. When Snake looked back at the page, he found that Alex had gone from trying to write his surname to scribbling all over the page.

Snake rolled his eyes at the child's attention span, before putting Alex onto Eagle's lap, much to the man's surprise, just to get a drink of orange juice for him, even though Alex hadn't actually asked for it…

The Scot shoved the juice in front of the boy, who looked up, confused.

"Drink it. All of it." Snake commanded. Alex wanted to argue with him just for the point of it, but he was thirsty, and Ian had made him drink a cup of orange juice every morning, something to do with his attention or something.

As Alex drank, his eyes were sad and distant. Eagle stayed still as a statue with the boy on his lap, and Snake went to attempt to get Fox out the shower, as he knew the man would stay in there all day if he had the option.

…. … … …. ….

Alex was sitting in between Wolf and Eagle on the sofa, watching the men play a hippo race in the _Madagascar _Xbox game. Snake was sitting in the recliner in the corner of the room, writing out a shopping list.

Fox came downstairs, his hair still wet form the rough towel dry he had given it. Snorting, he sat on the floor and watched the two men finish their race. The room erupted in cheers and laughter when Eagle beat Wolf. The man was rolling around the floor in laughter at Wolf expression, due to the fact that the man lost. Yes, he had actually fallen off the couch!

Alex grinned and chuckled, enjoying this time they were spending together. He liked spending time with them, he decided, it was like having a family almost, which is what he wanted so badly, even though he didn't realise this yet, after all, he was only 5 years old.

"Guys in 5 minutes were going to Sainsbury's, so get ready" Snake commanded suddenly.

Eagle groaned. "Do I have to come Snaky? I hate the supermarket!"

"Yes all of us are going" the other men groaned too, shopping with Eagle was…difficult to say the least.

The man turned to Alex and spoke to him softly "Alex lets get your shoes on kiddo."

Alex didn't want to go out, so he shook his head and crossed his arms, frowning. The 4 SAS men raised their eye brows at this.

"Come on Al!" it was Snake's turn to groan now.

The boy shook his head again; fun.

_****____**…**_

Alex glared up at Eagle, whose job was to get Alex _in _the car, seeming as he had laughed when Wolf was kicked in the face. It has taken both Snake and Wolf, and ten minutes, to get one of Alex's shoes on, they didn't do the other one as it had an ankle support on. The shoe was a converse, which made it all the more difficult. In the end Wolf had Alex in an iron grasp, pinning him down, whilst Snake had put on the shoe and tied it on. So Eagle's job was to get the boy in the car, and keep him there on the journey. Again; fun.

"Look Al, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. You get in the car or I force you into it, what's it gonna be?" Eagle asserted.

Alex thought for a second. Eagle tensed, he had no idea what the kid was planning, but before he knew it Alex had kneed him…where it _kills._ Groaning, he leant heavily against the truck.

"Snake…" he called weakly. Said man ran out to find Eagle holding his place and leaning against the car, and no Alex in sight.

"Eagle can't you do one thing right?" Snake practically screamed, very angry.

"I...I tried, but he kneed me before I could do anything!" the man's face was ashen, ashamed. Snake was right, he admitted to himself, he never did anything right.

"Don't worry Eagle, he's not far" Snake said, before continuing, shouting this time "WOLF, FOX, GET YOUR BUTTS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" then listened in silence as two pairs of feet ran down the stairs.

They burst through the door way, to see an empty car, being leaned on by Eagle, and Snake with a furious frown on his face. And no Alex.

Wolf, living up to his names sake, growled.

….. …. …. …. …. …. …. … …. …. …. …. ….. … …..

"We've searched everywhere!" Fox exclaimed in frustration. They had been searching for over 10 minutes and had found nothing at all.

"Well he's John Rider's son and Ian Rider's nephew, not to mention was raised by the man, he's gonna be good isn't he?" Snake countered.

Eagle was silent for a moment, and then it hit him.

"Guys I know where he is!" Eagle shouted, silently congratulating himself for figuring it out.

"Where then?" Wolf once again growled angrily.

Alex lay under the car, as he had been since he kneed Eagle in the balls. He knew how to hide well, and used the car as an advantage, silently breathing and never moving. As he heard what Eagle was saying, he cursed the man in French, silently of course.

Then all of a sudden 4 pairs of eyes were staring at him from different points. A pair of furious grey ones (Wolf), angry green ones (Snake), amused blue ones (Eagle) and annoyed brown ones from Fox. He could see from those looks that he was in _deep _trouble.


	6. thunder and lightning

"Alex get out from under the car, or Wolf is going under after you" Snake threatened, voice like steel, but Alex shook his head, gulped and stayed where he was.

Wolf was very close to losing it. He slid himself under the truck, grabbed the boy's torso and pushed him out from under the car, into the ready hands of Snake. Alex wriggled and tried to get away, but with no success. He was carried by Snake, who had one hand round his chest and one under his bottom, allowing now escape. Pouting, Alex was put in the car seat. It was one of the ones with 3 straps; one for each shoulder and one for in between the legs. Snake, as he had been approved for fostering, knew that it was mostly used for younger children, and the ones who had tendencies to get out of the normal car seat during car rides because they had figured out how to undo them.

He almost laughed at the little boy's face, whose eyes were shooting daggers at the strap between his legs, as he was frowning and pouting. The man got into the passenger seat, Wolf driving, with Eagle and Fox either side of Alex. They had decided it was better for Alex's car seat to be in the middle, for the obvious reasons.

Alex was leaning his head on the back of the uncomfortable car seat, fidgeting and shuffling every few seconds. There was no comfort in this cold hard seat. They had made him use this one since he undid the seatbelt in the more comfy one and had jumped out of the, luckily, slow moving car.

Wolf was getting even more annoyed with the blonde in the back of his car. With the fidgeting and the absent minded feet kicking, he was ready to strangle him. The car ride was quiet, until Eagle and Fox decided to wrestle. In the end Snake had rolled up the newspaper by his feet and whacked them on the head with it. Alex's hair was ruffled from being in between the childish fight. They pulled up outside the shop, and then Wolf turned to Eagle and Fox, grinning.

"Eagle you get the lovely job of getting him out the car and to the shop, and Fox you get to be the one to get him in the seat in trolley, got it?"

Eagle easily got Alex out of the car, holding him so he couldn't hurt him or the car. Then Wolf locked the car. They both grumbled insults at Snake and Wolf as the two men sauntered off to the shop. Fox went over to the trolley park and Eagle carried Alex, who was struggling slightly.

He set him down on the floor, his hands firmly holding the boys little shoulders, as Fox brought over the trolley. Alex's eyes narrowed as he watched the man open up the seat. He turned to run, or hobble with his stupid ankle, but Eagle still had him.

"Come on Kid, just get in the trolley! It's not that bad!" Fox exclaimed, but Alex shook his head.

Eagle thrust Alex over to Fox who grabbed him, and went to his plan B. He tickled Alex, making him squeal in laughter. Seizing the distraction, he picked him up and practically through him into the seat and buckling it before he could even register what had happened. A deep frown emanated across Alex face and his young features darkened. Fox chucked and walked into the big shop, avoiding the swinging legs that were trying to hit him in the stomach. He whistled a merry tune, satisfied that he had got the kid in the trolley in barely any time at all.

He caught with the rest if his unit in the dairy isle. They were arguing over whether to get chocolate or fruity yoghurts. Snake wanted to get fruit because it was healthier but Eagle wanted to get chocolate, and as Eagle often thought like a child, he just couldn't see Snake's point of view. Wolf was agitatedly tapping his foot, watching them argue. Fox decided to just watch them argue with Wolf, while Alex fiddled with the strap in the seat, trying to escape.

After a minute or so, they were getting stares from the public, along with 'ooohs' and 'awwwwwws' from ladies as they saw Alex, with his big round chocolate eyes and ruffled blonde hair.

Wolf snapped, grabbing one 6 pack of fruit and one of chocolate, chucking them in the trolley, before walking off in the direction of the alcohol. Fox followed after him, just in case. And Eagle grabbed the trolley before Snake could, walking off in the direction of the chocolate. Snake sighed and ran after them; it was going to be a long trip.

… … … … …. … … …. …. … … … …. … …. … … …. ..

_3 hours _later, they left the shop, the trolley over flowing with carrier bags, which were filled to the brim with the food, and some clothes they had brought for Alex, which was paid for by the banks cash card they had given Snake. There was so much that they'd ended up having to get Alex out of the seat for more space. Said child was in the arms of Snake, his arms round the man's neck, head resting on his shoulder, looking behind them as they walked back to the waiting truck. It was a good thing that the boot on those trucks was so damn big!

Wolf was in a very bad mood after having to deal with Eagle for so long, so he was speeding and scowling Fox had grabbed shotgun and was now texting his girlfriend, Fleur. Eagle was humming Snow Patrol's 'set fire to the third bar', whilst Snake was just sitting, thinking about Alex. He felt helpless. As the youngest child in a young family, he had no experience in children apart from the classes he had attended on fostering, which had been quite a long time ago.

Looking over to his ward, he saw that the boy was starting to fall asleep. Eyelids drooping, his body started leaning against the harness, and Snake was thankful that the thing was there. Alex's hand made its way to his mouth, and he started absentmindedly sucking on it. Snake's eyes widened, as he had no idea that the boy did that.

Eagle looked over to see Alex asleep, sucking on his thumb, and laughed, causing Fox to turn around and smile. Wolf ignored Eagle's laugh, as he was so ticked off with the man.

"Awwww he's soo cute!" Eagle exclaimed. They looked at him like he was crazy.

"What you think just because I'm all tough and buff and hard doesn't mean that I have a soft side?" he asked incredulously, squaring his shoulders. They rolled their eyes and looked away.

When they arrived back at their house, Snake was surprised that Alex didn't wake up from the tyres rolling on the gravel, but was none the less happy he didn't; it gave him a reason to not have to unpack the shopping!

Gently as possible, he undid the straps holding the boy down and lifted him out the seat. Alex didn't stir once, but he did wrap his arms round Snake's neck, after taking his thumb out of his mouth, but he didn't put it back in his mouth, instead the said hand clutched Snake's shirt tightly. Fox opened the door for Snake, and so the man made his way upstairs to Alex's room.

Eagle started singing songs from both Snow Patrol and The Script, whilst Fox and Wolf heaved the bags from the car. As you can probably guess, it ended in Wolf punching Eagle, in the face, which of course sent Fox into hysterics. Meanwhile Snake pulled back the covers of Alex's bed, slipping him into it. Snake was the oldest in their unit. He wanted children, and was waiting for the right woman to come, someone to spend the rest of his life with. Despite this he knew the dangers, and it was difficult.

Carefully, he slid the converse off Alex's foot, chuckling slightly as he thought about when they got it _on _his foot, and the easiness getting it off his foot.

… … … … … … … … … … …

The next day, they were all in the lounge. Alex was engrossed in watching Eagle playing Madagascar, again, as it was the man's favourite game. Snake was dozing on the sofa, as he had been up half the night calming Alex with a nightmare. Wolf reading through a TV guide magazine and Fox was on facebook, and once again talking to his girlfriend, Fleur. They had been going out for 6 months now, and although it was quite a long time, they were still at an early stage in their relationship as he had to go away on missions for the SAS regularly. But now he was seizing the opportunity to really get to know her, seeming as he was going to be here, in London, for 2 months.

It was only 11am. Rain drizzled from the ever grey sky. A normal day in the UK. But the household had a calm atmosphere to it where possible, but tense also hung in the air. The thoughts of Alex, and the possible death threats from the ruthless organisation, weighed down on them.

Then disaster struck; sudden disaster. The rain had just started bucketing down and the wind started howling; thunder shook the air as lightening electrocuted it. K-unit didn't really notice this; they had spent months and months in Wales, doing exercises that were bad enough without rain, so now they were nearly immune. But for Alex it was a different story. He had never liked thunder, but what child does? It wasn't just the thunder and lightning that terrified him, it was the memories that accompanied it that made him cry and scream.

The first roll sent tremors through his small frame. Tears prickled his small eyes and his fist clenched into small balls. No one had noticed this yet. He was holding onto whatever he had keeping him in this minute, this day.

But when another roll of thunder hit them, sounding like a bass drum being pounded in their ears, and when lightning lit up the sky. The unit paused from their activities to glance out of the window, and they all nearly had a heart attack when a panic based, terrified, bloodcurling scream erupted within the room, sending them into fumbling panic for their guns.

In a split second, all 4 men were standing in defensive positions, guns drawn and ready for action. Snake was the first one to come to his senses, to realise that the scream was from the 5 year old, the very one that was crying his eyes out on the floor, curled in a ball in the protected defence position. Waving his hand for the rest of the unit to lower their guns, he slowly approached the petrified boy in front of him and one kneeled down, unsure about what direction to take the situation in.

Images reeled in Alex head, memories and emotions; vivid, painful memories. It the one that then started playing in head that sent that wild scream:

_Thunder rolled and rain fell like blankets outside as Jack carried a half asleep Alex down the stairs and depositing him on the breakfast bar. Her red hair was wild, and she was dressed in some loose fitting pyjamas. Alex himself was in his favourite khaki pyjamas, a gift from Ian for his last birthday._

_He slid from the table to the awaiting chair as Jack went to get him his breakfast; a bowl of cookie crisp, his currently favourite cereal. As he happily munched on his cereal, Jack got some coffee and sat opposite him, like they did every morning. He grinned at her and she managed a half smile that didn't reach her bright green eyes. It was almost as if the death of his uncle hadn't affected him, which in hindsight, it didn't really. He was hardly ever around. She made small talk with him, she struggled, but he didn't notice._

_She told him to go upstairs and get dressed. He didn't argue, he bounded off, full of energy. She sat at the table. Normal day, nothing out of the ordinary for them._

_After he had gotten himself dressed, he once again bounded, only this time back to Jack. As he neared, he heard something, so he paused to listen._

"…_don't harm him!" it was the sound of Jack's voice._

_Slowly Alex crept so he could see into the room. There was a man in complete black so only his green eyes were showing, holding a gun to Jack's forehead. Alex's heart skipped a beat and his breathing was laboured._

"_Oh I have no orders for that!" he laughed. A cold hard laugh echoed around the room._

_He fired. A single shot. Alex screamed. A terrified, blood curling scream…_

"Alex? Alex shhhh it's alright, it's alright" Snake soothed, alarmed by this.

He gently lifted Alex up and stood, holding him in his arms, rocking and continuing to sooth him as he clung to Snake like a life line and cried, screaming once again as Thunder struck.

K-unit stood, unsure about what to do with themselves. It's not like they could do much whilst their 5 year old ward was screaming in the arms of their teammate. Eagle's game buzzed in the back ground.

"Eagle turn your stupid kiddie game off or I am gonna hang you in the bathroom closet by your intestines and burn the house down." Wolf growled. Eagle didn't argue.

Then a shrill sound broke their awkwardness; Snake's blackberry. Wolf answered it, but not before checking caller ID, which was blocked. Frowning, he answered it.

"Hello", he grunted.

"_Mr McCarthy, your presence is requested at the bank to discuss your account"_

"This is James San Luca here, and we will be there soon, do we need to bring anything?" he replied, his voice hollowed.

"_Yes, can you tell Mr McCarthy to bring ALL your paperwork with him?"_

"Yes. Bye"

He was met by the gazes of Eagle and Fox, and a quick glance from Snake before his attention was once again returned to Alex, who was still crying endlessly, but at least the thunder had stopped.

Snake continued rocking Alex, who had yet to stop crying. The tight fist still clenched Snake's shirt tightly, which was now almost dripping wet. Although he knew it was the thunder and lightning that had scared him, he felt that it was something else that had made him scream.

Wolf's face was dark as he turned to address his unit.

"_They _just called, and want to see us all at the bank very soon, as in now really." He growled, feeling angry that they hadn't even given the kid time to settle in yet. It was ridiculous. The boy shouldn't be at risk anyway. MI6 should never have allowed that guardian to die, if only they had assigned protection to them. Being an intelligence agency, it shouldn't have got to the point that he was under protection because of Scorpia. But something seemed out to Wolf, but he just couldn't put his finger in it…

Snake looked up; helplessness had overcome him, making him pale and wide eyed.

"Wolf I…I don't think that's the best idea right now. He…he's practically lost it!" Snake whispered.

"I know, we shouldn't take him anywhere, much less to the bank, but I don't think we have a choice really" Wolf replied, defeat clearly etched in his voice.

"Hmmm maybe we can give him something to help him sleep, then they can't interrogate him or anything and then we will have no problems, not to mention it will help him with whatever shit he's dealing with" Eagle piped in. They all looked at him.

"…Eagle. That's not a bad idea!" Wolf muttered, shocked.

"Yes. However much I'm against drugging a 5 year old to sleep, it will help him" Snake replied, after weighing the pros and cons to find that they nearly all backed Eagle's idea.

Fox went upstairs to call Fleur, and explain why he had all of a sudden stopped chatting with her. Wolf left the room, muttering something along the lines of '…filling up my gun with bullets to shoot the god damn bastards', leaving Snake and Eagle alone.

Snake's attention returned to Alex, who was still crying, tears meandering down his tanned, soft skin in an unbreakable river flow.

"Alex." There was no response.

"Alex are you alright?" nothing.

"Alex stop crying" Mute.

"Alex, please." Tears continued to flow.

"Alex you're gonna go to sleep" the boy sobbed, but the tears never once faltered.

Snake turned to Eagle, who was sitting on the edge of the sofa, watching them intently. "However much I don't like your idea, can you take Alex whilst I go get the…stuff?" he asked, so Alex wouldn't hear.

Eagle was silent, but reached for Alex, who had not ever moved. Snake handed him over but had to pry his fingers away from his shirt, where Alex had a firm grip on it, very firm. Eagle then held Alex close to him, one hand wrapped round his torso, the other on the backs of the boy's head, which was buried into Eagle's neck. Needless to say, the only reason he wasn't falling to the ground was that his legs were firmly wrapped around Eagle's torso. Despite the fact that Eagle was actually very nervous about holding an emotionally torn up 5 year old in his arms, it felt…right in some way. It couldn't be natural instinct could it?

In the kitchen Snake slipped the contents of the sachet into the milk he had just warmed in their microwave. He felt bad about doing this, but it would help the poor boy he was protecting, wouldn't it?


	7. blackmail banks and throwing pens

Snake felt like a coward. _Drugging a 5 year old._ Hesitantly he picked up the milk.

Then he put it down again. Indecision rolled around in his mind. It would stop the emotional stress of the situation wouldn't it? Yes it would. But then again… no, he had too.

Picking up the glass, his hands shaking, the man slowly crept back to the lounge. He opened the door to find Eagle holding Alex, rocking him gently, just as when he left them. However there were no tears anymore. And the kids thumb was firmly locked in his mouth, his eyes closed, body slumped.

"Is he?..."Snake asked, praying the answer to be…

"Yes, completely out for the count" Eagle stated warmly. Adoration and relief was clear in his clear blue eyes.

Snake could've chucked the glass out of the nearest open window in happiness. Conscience once again clear, the Scotsman emptied the contents into the kitchen sink and dumped the cup in the sink, along with the ever growing pile of dirty plates, glasses, bowls, knives, forks and spoons. _'I'll get Eagle to do the washing up later' _he thought to himself as he returned once again to the lounge.

Wolf, Fox and Eagle were all in the lounge as Snake returned. Eagle had laid Alex on the couch so he could put on his jumper.

"Okay. Let's go, might as well get this over and done with." Wolf commanded, and the unit absentmindedly followed his orders. They were tuned to Wolf's commands, as often their lives were based on his commands when they were in places such as Iraq, fighting a war. They followed them; or they die.

Snake went over to Alex and picked him up, pulling him to his chest. Once again, little arms wrapped around his neck and clamped onto his shirt, and the blonde head buried into his neck. It was almost becoming a normality for Snake, something else he had never expected.

"Fox can you go and get Alex's jumper from his closet?" Snake asked. Fox looked up and nodded, before running up the stairs. The others made their way to the car. Wolf slid into the driver's seat, Eagle in the passenger. Snake normally sat there, and started to argue, but a glare from Wolf stopped that. He placed Alex into the car seat, strapping him in, before sitting down to the left of him. Fox came then, chucked the jumper at Snake's head and sat down.

Snake rolled his eyes at Fox as they pulled off the drive and began the short, but traffic filled journey, to the Royal and General Bank, the one place that they could say they almost feared. MI6 were heartless and cold, and if something wasn't done soon, Snake feared that they would suck Alex into their systems one way or another and he would become one of them.

Their journey was uneventful. Rain drizzled; Wolf drove purposely slow but still swore when they got caught in the London traffic, Eagle laughed, Fox and Snake rolled their eyes, Alex didn't stir.

It took them an extra half an hour to get there than it normally did, not that they had any objections even if it did make Wolf even more frustrated. He even put his middle finger up at the lady who pressed the button for the crossing, earning a well-placed glare from the man next to her and laughter from his unit, despite him telling them to shut up and threatening to knock them out and dump them in the Thames. Which actually made them laugh harder, although when Alex stirred Snake slapped a hysterical Eagle round the face to get him to be quite.

Parking the car, the unit slipped out of the car. Snake undid Alex and lifted him into his arms, and they all walked together to the main entrance, Wolf only lifting his arm behind him to lock the car. They moved as one.

Once inside the, as usual, cold foyer, they moved to the receptionist's desk. The person behind it was a man, probably in his early twenties, wearing a dark blue suit and forcing a smile. He looked up at Snake approached the desk, a little blonde boy in his arms. He had been expecting them.

"I'm David McCarthy, here to discuss my account" Snake stated, emotionlessly, a scowl on his face, and the faces of the three extremely burly men behind him.

The receptionist felt like he had just shrunk. "Y-yes sir, if y-you would like to wait in the w-waiting area, one of our em-employees will be with you mom-momentarily" he stuttered, earning sly smiles from the k-unit as they made their way to sit in the waiting area.

5 minutes later Mrs Jones came down, her face as blank as a plain piece of paper.

"Good morning, would you like to accompany me to Mr Blunts office?" she asked, as if they were 5 year olds themselves. Snake nodded curtly.

Once inside the lift, Alex started to shuffle a bit.

Eagle, who was standing right next to Alex's head, noticed that his eyes were fluttering and he murmured in Snake's ear "I think he's waking up."

Alex lifted up one eyelid sleepily. First he saw Eagle, who was frowning slightly until he saw Alex smile, then he turned that frown upside down, but the smile was forced. Looking around more, he saw the blank face of Mrs Jones, who didn't even look at him; she seemed very interested in the buttons on the lift. Fox was keeping his eyes fixed on the numbers that kept climbing higher and higher towards Blunt. Wolf, of course, was scowling.

Wiggling, he slid to the floor, out of Snake's hold. The mad didn't fight him, but did keep a hand firmly gripped on his shoulder: it wasn't uncomfortable, in fact Alex didn't mind, he just stood there, leaning slightly on Snake's leg, content.

Fox was surprised by this. He had assumed that Alex would try and shake him off, and stand away from them. The boy didn't seem to be very comfortable around them, and they all wondered why.

Mrs Jones, on the other hand, knew perfectly well why Alex was content on leaning against David's (snake) leg. She once had children of her own, but they had died in an accident. The reason he was happy was that Ian Rider had used to have a shoulder on Alex's shoulder and let him lean on his leg. Blunt had made Ian bring Alex to the bank several times, and she had always been the one to escort them up, to watch at Ian showed no emotion to Alex, to watch Alex not really notice. Blunt's plan for Alex disgusted her. She tried not to think about it by staring at the button panel and keep a straight face.

The tension was building. Every adult but one had almost sighed in relief when the doors opened. Eagle didn't count as an adult really as he didn't act like it; in fact it was him that they were sighing in relief about. All the men had secretly been worrying about what Eagle would burst out with to the deputy head of MI6, who had almost sighed in relief as well. She thought she would burst with the near pain of seeing Alex, who reminded her of her long dead son Greg.

The 6 briskly walked to the office. Mrs Jones entered without pausing, knowing that Blunt was expecting them that very second. As it finally clicked in Alex's brain where he was, he turned around and made to leave. His ankle was practically painless now, but Wolf still caught him, picking him up silently, despite his protests, and handing him the near-panicked blonde.

"Alex it's alright. Calm down, we'll be leaving soon, I promise." Snake soothed, rubbing his hands in soothing circles on his back. Once again, Alex slid to the floor and nodded, allowing Snake to drag him into his own personal version of hell, to see the emotionless devil himself.

Blunt sat behind his polished oak desk, emotionless and grey as ever, not a crease in his suit. His lifeless eyes followed Snake as he walked into his office, dragging Alex behind him. Blunt had a plan, one that would destroy Scorpia. He knew it would work, given time. But he had a long time for his plan. And little to the knowledge of the 4 SAS men, or the boy they were protecting, the plan was just beginning.

"Welcome back K-Unit. I hope that the assignment hasn't proven too difficult?" he asked, no hope in those words.

"No sir" they all replied, at exactly the same time. They were in work mode now.

"Good, well let's get straight to it then" he looked pointedly at Alex, who was sitting on Eagle's lap, as he was furthest away from Blunt.

"Sc-" Blunt started, but Jones interrupted.

"With all due respect, I'm not sure you should be saying this in front of Alex…" she said, her tone saying exactly what came out of her mouth.

Blunt frowned but none the less agreed for Eagle to take him down to see Smithers, which they were uncomfortable with but they did argue, and then come back. Less than 5 minutes later he returned and Blunt continued.

"Scorpia have stopped threatening to kill him, but as I hoped wouldn't happen, they are planning to kidnap him, and most probably turn him into a weapon against us. I think that it is possible for him to become maybe even the world's best. It is in his blood."

"So you're saying that the crazy, but world's biggest organisation responsible for his parents, and millions of peoples deaths, are going to kidnap him and turn him into a weapon?" Wolf asked bluntly, summing up what he had just been told.

"Yes…but we have an idea" Snake saw the glint in his eyes, and suddenly he knew what the plan was.

"You can't!" he exclaimed. His unit looked at him like he was crazy.

"Mr McCarthy, it is the only way. He will be prepared for it, and we both know that when the time comes he will want to kill the people responsible for the death of his parents" Blunt countered.

"Hold up, what's this idea that Snake's so wound up about?" Eagle asked, truly confused. Wolf and Fox both silently thanked him for asking the question that they both needed to know but could not bring themselves to ask, as it was a wound to their pride. But Eagle was just Eagle, he didn't care.

"Prepare him now for what's to come" Blunt replied.

"What he means is train him so when the time comes for them to be able to use him, they can because he will already be fully trained, then they can get rid of their Scorpia problem, probably something that will send him to his death" Snake replied bitterly.

The unit were silent as they absorbed the new information, before it turned to pure anger and hatred.

"What! You can't do that we won't let you! You can't train a 5 year old for his future, signing his death warrant before he can ever ride a bike, even if he can already because of his Uncle!" Wolf growled, exploding.

"Wolf. K-unit. We can and we will. It is for his own good in the long term. And if you don't agree to help then we can easily have him moved to a place where they would be more than happy to train him…and then some" Blunt threatened, even if his voice never changed once.

K-unit swallowed the lumps in the back of their throats and stared bloody murder at the man they hated. He wanted to train a 5 year old to become a spy, before he could even ride a bike, they assumed, but you never know when it comes to what 5 year olds under the guardianship of Ian Rider would have been taught to do! It was monstrous, but this was Alan Blunt, the head of MI6 and basically a ruthless, emotionless bastard. That was what he was. A monstrous bastard. Using everything to his advantage, including them.

"But that's like blackmail!" Eagle squealed. He wanted to squirm in his seat when he was sent a cold glare from the man he had addressed.

"No it's not. Help us and you will be helping yourself…and Alex. Otherwise we will just place him under the protection of someone…who probably won't care for his welfare, just train and train him. But you couldn't let that happen, you care about the boy, couldn't let him be taken away to that. If you're there then you can make his life as normal as possible and give him what he wants." Blunt said, tugging on their heartstrings.

Snake had already considered what he would do when the 2 month protection job was done, and admittedly he was thinking about adoption. However much he was against training him, setting his future and death in stone, if he were the one to raise him, then he could help and hope that he would fight MI6 when the time came, regardless of what they were and the lengths they would go too, to get what they wanted. It would give him enough time to come up with a plan, _something_ that could help Alex. But he knew Blunt was right. It was in the kids blood to be a spy. And another thing, he was balancing his future in the palm of his hand, deciding the rest of his life right there and then. How could he choose.

"Sir I think we need time to think this over. But what do you have for us?..."Snake left off.

"We have a schedule of where and when this training would be to take place, and a school in mind." Jones handed him a piece of paper. It read:

**Monday-5:15 to 6:30, London Road hall, Karate.**

**Tuesday-after school French till 4:30**

**Wednesday-Scouts Hall, Cambridge Road, 5:30 till 7:30**

**Thursday- after school Spanish till 4:30**

**Friday-London Road hall, 5:15 till 6:30, karate.**

**Saturday –Chelsea active centre, 2-3 swimming**

**Sunday-Chelsea active centre, 11-3, outdoor activities.**

And then he was handed a leaflet for some private school, which looked incredibly high class.

Snake stared in disbelief at the two things.

"You'll run the kid to the god damn ground!" Snake near-shouted.

"Mr McCarthy, children are very adaptable, especially this one, within a couple of weeks he'll get used to it" Mrs Jones answered him with authority.

He shook his head and stuffed the papers in his pocket.

"Am I taking that as a yes then Mr McCarthy?" Mr Blunt asked, innocently.

Shaking his head in disbelief at what he was just about to say, he muttered "yes." The k-unit stayed silent, waiting, for their dismissal. In truth they were eager to see Alex again. They didn't trust the bank at all.

"Then you may go. Mrs Jones, will you kindly take them to Smithers and Rider?" Blunt asked her, already knowing the answer. She nodded curtly and walked out of the room, knowing they would follow suit, which of course they did.

Just as they were leaving, Wolf paused, shook his head and muttered "His name is Alex" gruffly, before hastily leaving the room, shutting the door behind him with a `slam`. Blunt pretended to not hear him and moved to the next task on his list, Alex already pushed to the back of his mind.

….. ….. …..

K-Unit walked into Smithers office to find him holding a pen. He was standing on a desk, a target roughly 10m in front of him. He was holding the pen like you would a…javelin. Before it registered what he was doing in their heads, he had thrown the pen as he had watched Smithers do before him.

It sailed through the air. All adults watching, holding their breaths absentmindedly.

It hit the target, bulls eye. Dead centre.

"Yay I hit it!" he exclaimed in excitement. Smithers grinned at him "well done young chap!"

Jones was watching him with great interest, and the camera hidden in the corner of the room, which would've caught that and sent it to Blunt. She looked at her phone in disgust, and walked back to Blunt office.

K-unit was just standing there, mouths ajar, staring at the happy blonde boy in awe. This meant that he had a good aim…but it's also meant that Blunt will want to use him even more, and Fox knew that they had probably caught that on their CCTV and sent it to Blunt. In fact, that was probably why Jones left, he thought to himself.

Eagle shook his head in amazement, and walked into room, closely followed by Snake and Fox. Wolf stood in the doorway, hesitant. He was very angry right now.

"Alex, you ready to go home now?" Snake asked, approaching him and Smithers.

The boy looked at him, his eyes filled with proudness, with a grin that ran from ear to ear, exposing a row of straight, white teeth. "Yeah please" he put his arms up as a sign that he wanted to be carried. Snake noticed that he was comfortable with him now, something that made him very happy indeed. He picked him up and rested him on his hip.

"Thanks for watching him Smithers?" Snake said, shaking the fat man's hand.

"No problem, it was fun. That kid sure has a good aim. Just like John…." He trailed off. He had known John personally and had considered him a friend, a rare thing in the world of espionage. It was his friend's death that made him pull out of being a spy and instead become a gadget master.

"Yes, well we should be going, bye" Snake said turning to leave, as Alex's head was now resting on his shoulder, and he was yawning.

"Goodbye"

The unit left the building, got in the car and set off for their home, guilt and sadness rapidly building on their consciences. Every now and again each member would flash a look of pity for the half asleep boy in their car.


	8. sitting cups and frosty bars

"Alex sit down." Snake growled, for once,

"No I wanna stand-up"

"Sit down"

"Gimme my drink!" the 5 year old whined.

"No, Alex just sit down"

"Why?" suspicious now.

"You might drop it. Now do as you're told and sit down."

"I wanna stand, can I have my drink?"

"Not until you sit down, or will I have to force you?"

Eagle was watching them argue. As they continued he couldn't help but chuckle quietly. It was bringing out the 5 year old in the most mature member of the team, so what did that mean for the rest of them?

He had only come in for a cereal bar, but decided that this was way better. Wolf came in and stood next to him, his face hard until he caught what was going on, and had also chuckled.

"…Just sit down kid or I will force you to sit down!" Snake threatened, nearly shouting.

Alex sat himself down on the chair, well he actually had to climb up, but he had decided he wanted to do that on his own. Snake handed him the glass and walked upstairs. As Snake went and Alex started drinking, Wolf returned to the lounge to watch TV with Fox, whilst Eagle grabbed 2 cereal bars and sat next to the now contented child.

"You want a Frosty bar Al?" Eagle asked casually, showing the boy the packet.

A smile cracked Eagle's lips as Alex's eyes widened and he exclaimed "Yeah!" before diving to try and grab it. The man laughed and caught him in mid dive.

"Hey!" Alex screeched as he was carried one handed by Eagle to the lounge.

"Where are we going?" he screeched, once again.

"To watch TV. The kitchens not nearly as fun as they lounge" Eagle replied nonchalantly.

"Can I still have the frosty bar?" Alex whined uncertainly, staring at the bar in Eagle's other hand.

He laughed, "Yeah course!" as he sat down on the one seat sofa with Alex on his lap, who didn't particularly seem to mind, especially when he was handed a cereal bar.

"What you wanna watch then?" Eagle asked, once again casual, looking down at Alex, who was chewing a small part of the frosty bar.

Chocolate brown eyes met his blue eyes, widened.

"Phineas and Ferb?" he excitedly exclaimed.

"Yeah of course, we can steal the TV from Wolf and Fox, not that they would mind seeming as one is on his phone and the other is doing old peoples puzzles" he looked quizzically at Wolf, who hadn't even heard him apparently.

Alex continued eating his bar, Eagle his, when all of a sudden Alex turned to face him and said "You are like my Uncle Ian" they boy yawned.

Before Eagle could question him about how he was like his uncle, and comment on the slightly concerning matter at hand, Alex had lent his head against the buff chest of the soldier, yawning, eyes half closed.

Eagle was gobsmacked, not sure what to do. So he sat there as stiff as a post, waiting for Alex to do _something._

Then the boy's eyes closed fully, and he almost fell to the floor, but luckily Eagle caught him. Frozen, he looked to Wolf, his eyes pleading. Wolf saw this, rolled his eyes, and went over to him.

"What do I do?" Eagle exclaimed.

Once again the Hispanic man rolled his eyes and took command.

"Sit him on your lap" Eagle did as instructed.

"Yeah now put one of your arms under his head and one under his legs"…."Now just hold him close and he should move into a more comfy position, on his own, or something, give it a bit"

"Thanks Wolf. I am not even gonna ask you how you knew that." Eagle muttered, embarrassed that _Wolf _of all people knew how to hold a sleeping 5 year old and he himself did not. He was also embarrassed for nearly panicking in such a situation like this; he had fought in Iraq for Christ's sake! But he couldn't hold a sleeping child without panicking!

Wolf turned round to return to his seat to find Snake and Fox both looking at him curiously.

"What?" he growled.

"How did you know all that?" Fox exclaimed.

Wolf sighed, "When Maria was pregnant she made me go with her to one of the parenting classes that Tom couldn't attend, it was the one about how to hold them. Incredibly boring." He explained.

They raised their eye brows but didn't push it. They knew that Wolf's sister Maria, Tom and the baby Laura had died in a car accident a couple of years ago, and of course it was a difficult subject for him.

Snake sat down next to Wolf, staring absentmindedly at the TV. Wolf started doing the puzzles once more and Fox's attention returned to his phone. Eagle was watching Alex curiously as the child snuggled into him, the thumb going to the mouth. And as usual Alex had hold of the nearest thing, which happened to be the nearly melted Frosty bar. He pried the bar away from the little fingers, which grabbed the nearest thing: Eagle's wrist. He smiled at this and absentmindedly stroked Alex's hair as a comforting gesture. Where the hell did all of this come from? Was this is paternal instincts? Eagle knew not.

He had never even considered children; the tended not to like him most of the time. When his sister in Australia had had a daughter, the kid never laughed at him or anything. It just cried and screamed.

"Hey guys, can we save him from Blunt?" he asked curiously, bringing every ones attention to him. They too had been thinking about that.

"I…I don't see how we can. If we fight them then they will just send him to someone else, and we can't let that happen. It can't even be seen as child abuse, and this is MI6 were talking about. They would get their way either way" Snake stated sadly.

"They are such dicks!" Wolf angrily exclaimed, but not too loud as he didn't want to wake up Alex. Wow, one child for like 3 days had really changed him, and Snake, and Eagle. When was Fox gonna change then?

"I know" Snake hissed.

"We just have to do the best we can for the time being…but I think he still needs more time before all this starts" he continued, fishing the paper and leaflet out of his pocket.

"Hmmm well he shouldn't have to do any of this at all, but I agree that we should get some time with him first" Fox said, which surprised Snake as he had thought that Fox wasn't as bothered for him as the others. Rising his eyes brows, Eagle turned to look at Fox.

"SO you do care!" he exclaimed loudly, earning several `shut up you idiot you'll wake the kid` from the others before he was answered.

"Yeah of course, it's just I'm still getting used to this" Fox replied. Wolf almost rolled his eyes at Eagle's remark, it was obvious that Fox was still adjusting, all be it slower than the rest of them, but trust Eagle to ask the obvious.

"I'll call the bank and demand 2 weeks before Alex starts with this training thing, and another week before school" Snake said, moving towards the door, his phone already dialling 'the bank'. As he got through, his face was grim.

"Hello, I would like to speak to Mrs Jones" he said, as politely as possible considering whom he was dealing with.

"_I'm sorry no one by that name works at the Royal and General, please try another number" _the voice on the other end said. He had a feeling they were about to hang up on him.

"NO! I mean, I would like to talk to someone concerning my account." Ha! He remembered what he was supposed to say.

"_May I ask who this is? This is a secure line." _the voice on the other end replied.

"It's David McCathy." He said, waiting for it to register in their stupid minds, from his view.

"_I will put you on McCathy" _it said. Stupid music started playing and he could've rolled his eyes.

"_Snake! Is Cub alright?"_ Mrs Jones screeched down the other end of the phone. He was surprised that they had given him a codename, but he knew immediately who she was talking about.

"Yes he is. I am actually calling to compromise when he starts this new timetable and the school" he said. He could literally hear it when her eye brows raised.

"_We would suggest that he starts as so-" _she started but he cut her off.

"He needs more time to settle in first Mrs Jones. We as a unit feel it would be better if he started the training in 2 weeks and then leave the school for another week after that. Its too much for him" he said, attempting to sound forceful, but he actually sounded a bit scared.

There was a pause, and he was panicking. Were they going to take him away from them? he waited. It was a long painful wait and he felt as though it went on forever, when it was only about a minute.

"_Very well Mr McCathy. He may start when you requested, but no later" _she declared.

He could've yelled and jumped, but he remembered who he was and who he was talking to, therefore he dropped that idea.

"Thank you Mrs Jones" he said. Cutting the line, he returned to the lounge.

Swinging the door open and entering, he was met with 3 pairs of curious eyes. As he started for the couch he told them what happened.

"So they are gonna give him time?" Eagle exclaimed happily. He got the normal shut up you idiot from that, like last time.

"I'll put Alex to bed" Snake said, standing up and moving over to Eagle, who still had an asleep Alex on his lap. His eyes looked up, and he muttered "I'll come with you."

Snake was surprised by this, but didn't say anything, just merely watched as the youngest member of his unit softly pulled Alex into his arms and stood up gracefully and slowly. It was done with such smoothness that Eagle was frowning in concentration, but Alex had not stirred once.

Fox was snoring quietly on the sofa, but Wolf was watching Eagle, Snake and Alex the whole time. It was funny that Eagle was taking all of this so seriously, as the man had only ever been serious when on assignment like Iraq and life threatening situations. All the other times he had been a joker, messing around and easily hyper. Sergeant had said he was a team moral, that it was good for them. Even Wolf had to admit that he needed Eagle to boost his spirits sometimes, when he didn't want to kill the man.

Hugging Alex close to him, Eagle started towards the stairs, with Snake walking in front of him, mainly so he could move all the crap from out of their path and turn on the lights.

Once in Alex's room, Eagle paused whilst Snake grabbed Alex's pyjamas from under his pillow. He motioned for Eagle to hold Alex up and between the two of them they got Alex undressed and then dressed again into pj's with him only stirring slightly twice. He had never become fully awake and for that Snake was grateful; the last thing he wanted at 11pm was a screaming 5 year old because he got woken up.

Snake affectionately stroked his young wards blonde hair. Looking down at the innocent face, sunken into the blue pillow, tucked up, he looked adorable but somehow incomplete. He turned round to find Eagle sat at the end of his bed, rummaging through his rucksack.

"Eagle what the hell are you doing?" he asked cautiously, unable to keep an inkling of sarcasm out of his voice.

"Looking for something…AHA!" he exclaimed, lifting out a brown dog teddy. It looked to be some kind of golden retriever/Labrador type with big empty eyes. But it looked snuggly.

"I didn't know he had a teddy!" Snake said, actually surprised.

"Mmm well I thought he might and somehow all tucked in he looks slightly…incomplete. I figured what seemed missing and found it" Eagle exclaimed as he went over to Alex. Lifting up the small arm as Snake pulled away the cover enough for the dog, he slid the teddy under his arm and then placed it back. Snake once again tucked in the corner and they stood back, waiting for him to do what he normally did and how having the dog there would affect him. They absentmindedly thought like that now, as they were fully trained soldiers.

Alex didn't disappoint. As he shifted slightly, the thumb returned to the mouth and he curled up against the dog. They couldn't help but smile and chuckle, it was just so cute! Snake faltered. Would he ever had said that merely under a week ago? No, he wouldn't.

Leaving the room, Snake felt a pang of guilt. To know that one day that boy was going to face Scorpia, and knowing MI6 it would be when he was 14 or something, and however much he could try without losing his job, one sliver if rebellion would have Alex played in some horrible place…he could image. He shut his eyes and made his way down to once again join his best friends.


	9. guns  5 year old disaster and tears

**alright people chapter 9 is up! i know i havent updated in a while but here is the 9th chapter. tell me if you like it...hate it...love it? it might be a bit fast paced but R&R and tell me!**

**chapter 10 will hopefully be up in the next 2 weeks xx**

**enjoy xxx**

Eagle paced the corridor outside the lounge. He could not believe he was fretting over asking something to a _5 year old!_ It was one simple question, and yet he was pacing and worrying over it! Ha! A fully grown SAS man and he was doing this! Crossing his fingers he walked into the lounge.

Alex was sitting on, an asleep, Fox's lap, watching the TV. The man himself was snoring with his mouth ajar. He chuckled, which alerted Alex of his presence. Said boy looked up; his brown eyes penetrating Eagle, without meaning to the boy had had him wanting to cower. Wow. Shrugging off the cowardly feeling he currently felt, Eagle walked up to the boy and wordlessly lifted him up. To his surprise Alex didn't argue, merely stared at him confused, and didn't wrap his arms round his neck as he normally did. He didn't know why, but he had a good guess it was because of the strange circumstance that they were in this second.

Depositing him on the chair behind the breakfast bar, Eagle lent on it and looked into his chocolate eyes. They were scary but at the same time…adorable?

"Alex what did you mean I am like your uncle?" incredibly curious.

If Alex was older, Eagle guessed that he would've raised an eye brow at that, because of the expression on his face. It was incredulous.

"You and Snake and Wolf and Fox are like my uncle." He stated.

"How?" pressing the answer, just like he did in training.

"One minute you are all nice and stuff and the next time you are stiff and cold." He explained. Alex didn't notice that Eagle's eye brows rose in disbelief. The man couldn't believe it! Well he was a highly trained soldier, as were the rest of his unit, but they didn't realise that they were like that. Not at all. It was difficult for him to shrug off things like that.

"Oh. Well kiddo do you want some food?" he asked, glancing at the clock on the wall that read 12:05.

The boy nodded vigorously. Chuckling and ruffling his hair, Eagle went over to the fridge, pulling out the necessary foods to make a cheese sandwich. Setting to work, his mind thought about how much his life had changed…

…thinking so deeply that he didn't even notice when Snake walked in, Wolf following closely behind.

"Hey Eagle" Snake greeted casually as he picked up the now empty china plate that Alex had been eating from. As he walked to the sink, he realised that Eagle had not replied to him, and tapped him on the shoulder.

However, he didn't expect to have a punch thrown at him. Reflexes jumping, Snake jumped and dropped the _china _plate. Before Snake could do anything, as he was blocking the oncoming punch, he didn't have time to even attempt to catch the plate.

As it collided, a smash rang through the house.

Wolf looked up, already reaching for his gun. Alex jumped and looked up alarmed. There was a weird, half a second silence until the door from the lounge banged open and a half asleep Fox ran in, carrying his gun out and ready to shoot.

A gun in front of a 5 year old. Clever.

Alex stared wide eyed at the gun in Fox's hands. Was the man a baddie like the other men that carried guns? Was he gonna hurt him? Questions that the young boy could not answer.

Eagle was staring wide eyed at his fist, still like ice, the very one that was a centimetre away from connecting with his teammates face. Snake was frozen like Eagle.

Alex made a strange small sound from where he was. They all turned to look at him. Bottom lip quivering and brown eyes wide, they realised that Fox had a gun in front of him. Another issue Snake thought was that Alex shouldn't even _know _that the gun could harm him.

Fox slid the gun back in the holster. "I…I heard the plate smash and I thought…."he explained, pausing at the end, he knew that they knew what he meant.

"Yeah, I get it." Wolf said.

Turning to look at his unit, who were all frozen, he took charge. "Eagle, clean up the mess. Fox, go and…well just go and sleep or whatever, and put some pants on" Fox blushed and left the room hastily. Wolf motioned to the half frozen boy and pointed meaningly at Snake. He got the message.

Slowly he walked over to the quivering boy. "Alex?..." trailing off, waiting for a reaction. The chocolate eyes met his green ones, and he saw the fear behind the chocolate covered wall.

"Come on Al" he gently lifted Alex to his chest, and held him close, in a hug. Quickly the little boy responded to this, by once again clinging to him like that life line. He stroked the soft blonde hair, rocking slightly. He then realised that his t-shirt was starting to stick to him…was it wet? Tears? Alex was crying.

He motioned to Wolf that he was going upstairs. Said man nodded. Snake went upstairs leaving Eagle and Wolf alone in the kitchen.

"Eagle…what the hell was that?" Wolf growled.

His normally humorous blue eyes were empty of their laughter. Wolf saw this when he looked into them. "I…I don't know. I was thinking real deep and then when Snake tapped me I just…panicked and went to punch him" taking a deep breath, he continued "I didn't think about it. And I didn't think that Fox would assume something was wrong. I didn't even know Snake had a plate in his hands at that moment. Hell I didn't even know you two were back." His eyes were pleading.

"Yeah it's okay. But what the hell had you thinking that deep? You never think deep!" Wolf exclaimed.

Eagle let out a forced laugh. "I was thinking about how much my life has changed, and actually I am a deep thinker!" he was pouting. Wolf chuckled.

"Yeah…well finish cleaning up the smashed china…all of it because Alex might tread on it and hurt himself" Wolf's eyes widened in horror.

"God I sound like a bloody father!" he exclaimed. Eagle chuckled and shook his head, once again returning to sweep the mess with the dustpan and brush. Wolf started for the lounge to talk with Fox, if he wanted to talk, which was actually unlikely.

Snake lent against the wall behind the bed, still slightly rocking Alex. After what felt like it could've been a _long _time, but was merely minutes, Alex looked up to him, watery eyes questioning.

"Wh-why d-did Fox h-have a-a gun?" Alex stuttered.

What the hell was he supposed to say to that? "Well. He thought there was something wrong with you so he got out his fake toy to protect himself." Snake replied.

"So it wasn't real then? Can I- "Alex began, eyes lighting up.

"NO! You cannot play with it. You are not to touch that or if you find any more, those either. Do you understand?" Snake practically bellowed. Sudden images were running though his head of Alex playing with the gun, it pointing towards him and his finger on the trigger….

Alex flinched. One second he was nice and the next moment he was shouting at him! He couldn't understand.

Snake sighed. "I didn't mean to shout at you Al, okay? Just if you see any guns at all then don't touch it, go and get me or James or Ben or Matt." Alex nodded but seemed confused.

"Who?" He asked.

"Al we've been over this. You've got to learn our real names!" Snake said, not giving an explanation.

Alex thought for a moment before answering. "Ookkaayy but-"Snake cut him off.

"Yes I know we call each other by our animal names so we will start to, we can all learn to say it together, okay?" Snake more or less told him.

Alex nodded, happy that they were doing something together, the earlier incident completely forgotten.

The young boy shifted his position so he was upright and side wards on the man's lap, leaning against his chest but still able to face him. He yawned cutely.

"Alright, let's go downstairs then Al!" Snake stood, and began walking, Alex in his arms and trying to get down. The man merely rolled his eyes and tightened his grip, as they were on the stairs, and that was the _worse_ time ever to drop a child.

"Alex" Snake growled menacingly. Let's just say he stopped moving.

When they reached the lounge there was a low murmur so Snake coughed to alert them of their presence, whilst Alex was trying to grab the corner of the banister. He swatted the hand away, chuckling slightly.

Snake carried Alex into the lounge. Liverpool was playing Manchester United on the TV, which was being watched by Wolf and Fox. Eagle was in the corner, looking downcast at the carpet. Snake grimaced and went to sit, dumping Alex on Wolf as he went.

Said man looked up from the screen, screeching "Hey!" He had never really held Alex on his lap before, and he was watching an important footy match!

Snake merely rolled his eyes and replied "Wolf you never hold him, ever, and we all know you know how to so you have no excuse. It's not like he is a problem!"

Wolf grunted and returned to the football match. Half an hour later Alex shifted on his lap and he sat on top of a rather sensitive part. The man bit his tongue so he didn't yelp and gently shifted Alex away, who didn't look at him, only leaning against his chest and yawning. Again.

Snake frowned, hearing the yawn. It was only 1:35pm, and he shouldn't be yawning like that yet. Medical instincts starting to kick in, Snake spoke up. "Hey Wolf could you check his forehead and see if it's hot?"

Wolf looked up from his game, wondering why Snake wanted him to check the kid's forehead, undoubtedly to check his temperature…although Alex did seem half asleep to him, and yawning a lot…so he didn't argue and put his hand to Alex's forehead. It was burning hot.

The only half-conscious now boy wriggled slightly, not quite having the strength to argue properly. Alex felt horrible all of a sudden. His throat ached and his head was spinning and buzzing, like it was filled with bumblebees. Everything felt really slow and the voices of Wolf and Snake seemed like a distant echo in the back of his brain.

"Wolf?" Snake asked, as the man still hadn't told him whether his suspicions were correct or not, even though the look on his face suggested he was.

"Yeah he's got a flaming temperature." The Hispanic man replied without looking up, his look fixed intently on the half-conscious boy on his lap, making the Scotsman's brow crease in worry.

Snake sat still, he too staring at the boy. He had a pale face with the exception of red cheeks, his eyelids were drooping and it seemed that he was entirely leaning on Wolf; not supporting himself.

Before Snake could try and take charge of the medical situation, Wolf's leadership kicked in and he focused on the task at hand.

"Right Unit. Fox help me take Cub up to his bed and make him comfy. Snake, tell Eagle what medicine he will need to buy for him and then come up with us. Eagle go to the shops after Snake has told you what to buy and buy it, you can take the other car and be quick. Alright everyone?" Wolf commanded them, and after nods, they began their set tasks. Fox ran upstairs, Wolf in his shadow carrying the feverish boy. Snake began telling Eagle what to buy from the store and soon the man was running out the door at the same time that Snake started the stairs.

He burst into Alex's room. Alex was laid on the bed and the 2 men seemed to be going through Alex's bedside drawers, looking up when their team mate entered,

"What the hell are you two looking in the bedside drawers for?" Snake demanded.

Fox suddenly felt rather awkward, holding a box of Crayola crayons and a Disney colouring book. "Well erm we were…err…umm"

"We were looking for a fresh set of pyjamas, but we couldn't find them" Wolf cut in, seeing as the sentence was getting nowhere.

Snake sighed and pointed to the top drawer of the chest of drawers at the wall opposite the foot of the bed.

An hour later they were all standing around Alex's bed, all gazing affectionately at the blonde angelic looking child wrapped in blankets, snuggled cosily to a brown Labrador teddy with his thumb firmly placed in his mouth. It was an adorable sight; even Wolf had to admit that. The boy still had a high temperature and was still out of it, but he at least he looked better, thanks to some child's medicine called `calpol` that Snake had read about in his children's illness encyclopaedia.

"At least he'll be okay…" Snake sighed in relief.

"Yeah, from the flu" Fox muttered icily.

"Yeah. One step at a time buddy" Eagle replied, patting Alex's head softly and heading out of the door. Fox followed him so Snake and Wolf were alone in the room.

"Night Alex…" Wolf murmured softly, gently rubbing Alex's arm in the hope of a comforting gesture, he glanced at Snake, who nodded in encouragement. He suddenly felt awkward and stood up, leaving Snake with Alex.

Snake sat next to the sleeping boy and rested his hand on the fluffy blonde covered head, running his fingers through the soft strands. Alex let out a contented sigh, probably because of the action Snake was doing. He put his hand on his forehead and sighed. The fever was yet to break. Snake left the room, leaving the door open just in case Alex was to wake and needed him.

It was at 11pm when Snake heard the sound of Alex calling his name, desperately pleading for him to come. The others were asleep and had not heard this. Jumping up, he sprinted up the stairs to Alex's room. The boy was incredibly pale and seemed to be covering his mouth, seemingly almost choking.

Snake realised what was wrong and plucked him up, running to the bathroom and standing him up to lean over the toilet. **(What happens next I am not going to describe in too much detail thank you!) **Alex then puked his guts out.

All the medic could do was hold him upright, supporting his weight, and talk to him soothingly. When the little boy was done he fell backwards into the Scotsman, letting a single tear run down his cheek. Upon seeing this, Snake pulled him into a hug. Alex did not cry for long as he was too tired for that. Once finished, Snake gently pushed him to sit on the floor.

"Al I'm gonna go and get you a drink and some more medicine, will you be alright if Eagle comes and sits with you?" Snake asked. He got a tired nod as a reply, and the medic left the room, flushing the pungent toilet as he left.

In the lounge he slapped Eagle round the face to wake him up, as he didn't want Alex to be alone for too long and that was definitely the fastest way to wake someone as far as he was concerned, especially heavy sleepers named Eagle.

"What!" Eagle exclaimed, jumping up into defensive position. Snake covered a hand over the man's mouth and put a finger to his lips.

"Eagle. Alex has just been sick and is currently sitting alone in the bathroom. Go and keep him company and make sure he doesn't fall asleep. Got it?" Snake hissed. Eagle nodded and ran for the stairs.

Snake gathered everything needed and even got a spare ice cream tub to use as a sick bowl, as his aunt and uncle once did for him. When he got upstairs he found Alex sitting on Eagle's hip, being splashed with probably cold water.

"What the hell Eagle?" Snake exclaimed, dashing over, dumping the stuff on the counter and snatching the now wet and near shivering 5 year old from the stupid man.

"It helped!" he protested. And before Snake could shout at him, he continued hurriedly "his forehead was flaming and the water helped a bit, and he was slightly sweaty! And please don't kill me!" Eagle defended, his eyes like saucers trying to dig himself out from the glare radiating from the medic.

Snake glared at him sceptically, but inwardly shrugged off whatever he had previously wanted to say when Alex's head fell against his shoulder: asleep.

"Damn" he muttered, swiftly motioning for Eagle to collect the stuff he had collected from the kitchen and made his way back to Alex's bedroom.

He lent Alex against the wall and handed him a cup of water with a lid on it but he did not seem to have the energy to lift it too his mouth. The man took the cup back from the boy and held it too the boys lips, a small smile escaping him when Alex grasped his wrists and drank greedily. When he'd finished Snake dumped the cup on Eagle, who had taken to sitting on the edge of the bed, and grabbed the bottle of calpol and the small plastic spoon that often came with them. He poured the correct amount on the spoon and advanced towards his young ward.

Alex shrunk at the sight of the horrible pink stuff that Snake was holding. It was _supposed_ to taste like strawberries, but he had never tasted anything less strawberry like in his life! Alex protested weakly but Snake just tilted his head back by force and poured the sickly stuff down his throat, making it so he had no choice but to swallow it. A firm scowl plastered itself on Alex's face, making both adults chuckle slightly.

"Drink…" Alex demanded.

"Once I've checked your temperature" Snake replied, reaching to take the thermometer from Eagle, who handed it to him silently. Alex was pouting.

"Al I'm gonna out this is in your ear okay?" Snake asked. Alex shook his head and went to cover his ear but before he could Snake grabbed his hand a shoved the thermometer in it. Once it beeped, he pulled it back out again. It read 100degrees Fahrenheit, still way too hot.

Snake pulled back the duvet and slid Alex into it, after letting him have the drink he demanded. Alex had fallen asleep within minutes and soon Eagle and Snake were able to go back to bed, leaving Wolf and Fox on the coaches downstairs.


	10. of raining bin and being chased

alright readers. i said i would update in the next week or something like that so here it is! i know it is shorter than the other chapters but its a bit lighter too so i hope you enjoy it. i apologize for any grammer and spelling mistakes but im only 12!

hope you enjoy and dont forget to read and review! and check out some of my other stories too!

Morning found Wolf sitting next to Fox at the table, drinking black coffee, with a 5 year old his lap drinking warm milk. According to Snake he should be getting better now that he was sick, which was at least a good thing.

It was just in the meantime the little boy was being naughty and a bit stroppy. Well…very stroppy. He had already thrown toast, with jam on it, at the wall, leaving a rather large red stain on the cream coloured wall, and thrown porridge on top of Eagle's head. But when they got angry, the big brown eyes made them want to melt on the spot, well, all of them apart from Wolf, who insisted on punishment for Alex. But instead he got the whole 'adorable' and 'it must have been an accident' and the whole 'but he's unwell' crap.

So now the thunderously frowning man had a grinning child on his lap, drinking black coffee and silently damning the little rascal. Wolf wasn't a child person; in fact starting a family had never crossed his mind. Sure he had had several serious girlfriends in his past, but he had been completely focused on the SAS since he was 14 years old, when his father and mother died of a terrorist attack whilst in America. That was what made him want to work for the SAS, or the army and protect the country from things just like that. That was what made him what he is today, since he was raised by his good for nothing uncle from then on, one that didn't give a crap and died just after Wolf's 18th birthday of alcohol poisoning. His sister had been better off in this situation, being placed with their great aunt in LA, America.

Alex yawned and put his cup on the table; he slid off Wolf's lap and made for the back door. Wold would've let him go, but Snake's earlier words echoed around in his head…

"_Wolf it's not difficult. I am just going to the store to get some more food. The kid's ill for Christ's sake! There's nothing he can do and I'm taking Eagle with me anyway so you shouldn't have any problems." Snake said hurriedly, whilst looking around his bedroom for his other sock._

"_But..." Wolf replied, not seeing an argument really._

"_No buts dude. Just get him some warm milk, have a coffee, sit him on your lap and don't let him out of your sight…oh and don't let him outside!" he shouted, running out the door, Eagle at his heel, grinning like the lunatic he was._

"_Great." He growled, slamming the door and going to the kitchen, where Alex was sitting, frowning._

"Alex!" he growled, at the blonde headed for the door, who coincidently didn't hear the man's growl.

Fox chuckled to his right as Wolf cursed and ran to catch him. Upon seeing this, Alex ran, thrusting the door open and sprinting into the pouring rain, a small sneeze escaping him as he ran.

Wolf would've caught him, but as he ran to catch the shrimp, Eagle's slipper happened to be right there. In the middle of his path. So as he sprinted to go and strangle the little git, his foot caught on the slipper, sending him sliding in the wrong direction on the laminate floor. The SAS man was sent flying straight into the bin, slamming into it and sending its contents flying all in directions. He heard a giggle from outside. Wiping the remains of an egg from his eye, he grunted and ran out into the rain, shrugging of wrappers and the remains of food.

Fox watched in hysterics as his teammate, covered in the contents of a bin which included pizza, pasta, beans, milkshake, Weetabix, curry and chicken pie to name a few. Let's just say a bulky SAS soldier covered from head to toe in rubbish and manky remains, with a scowl as long as the week was quite a sight!

Wolf ran into the rain, leaving his trail behind him like a slug. It didn't take long to catch a slightly unwell 5 year old in the pouring rain. Roughly, he grabbed the squealing blonde boy, chucking him on his shoulder in a fire man's carry and walking back to the house, silently cursing colourfully in his first language: Spanish.

Once he was back inside, he slammed the door with such force that Fox swore the house shook. Depositing Alex on the counter, Wolf ran a damp cloth over his face, to uncover the skin that wasn't uncovered by the pouring rain.

So mad, Wolf went to have a shower before he snapped and did something he regretted. Sometimes…sometimes his temper got the better of him, and he knew right now, if in any way he hurt Alex, John would haunt him or something. Sudden memories of his childhood with his parents telling him ghost stories on Halloween.

He knew he had to get away: now.

"Me voy a la ducha. Te orden en el caos ? Por favor" Wolf asked, switching to Spanish so _little ears _wouldn't understand what he was saying.

Fox, understanding the words said and the meaning for the language change, replied back, automatically switching to this language. "Sí, lo haré limpieza. ¿estás bien?"

"Si, gracias" Wolf replied, quickly slipping out the room before Fox could question him. Once upstairs, he silently prayed a thanks to the sergeant for making him the team leader, therefore giving him the best reason to have an en-suite bathroom. It was great.

Fox stared in disbelief at the child before him. His disbelief quickly turned to amusement, and he barked a laugh. That's' when Eagle and Snake came back.

::::::::::::::::

Snake stomped into the room, smelling the unpleasant small of rubbish. In front of him was a laughing Fox, a grinning 5 year old covered in remains of food and complete and utter disaster in the shape of garbage. Spilt everywhere.

Seething, he managed to spit out two words, directed at Fox. "What happened?"

Stopping his laughter to address the angry Snake, Fox replied "Well Alex wanted to go outside, so he walked outside, and Wolf ran to stop him but he tripped over Eagle's slipper and fell into the bin." Motioning to the mound of rotten hell.

Digesting this, Snake asked "so why is he" pointing at Alex "covered in remains and rubbish then?"

Fox looked at Alex before answering "well Wolf ran outside and picked him up to carry him back inside" the way he answered was casual.

"Where the hell is Wolf!" Snake practically shouted.

"Jeez Snake calm dude! He went to shower; he looked like a drenched walking rubbish pile!"

Thunder rumbled outside, but none of the adults noticed.

Snake would have replied to that, but Alex whimpered, making them all turn to look at him. He looked terrible and very pale.

It hit Snake. "Oh shit!" he mumbled, going forwards and lifting up the now shaking up boy.

"Shhhh it's alright Al. it's just the thunder. Don't worry" he murmured, softly and comfortingly, slightly rocking the trembling boy.

"Right. Fox can you go and get your CD player and put in the UK hit top 40 or something, you know decent music?" Fox slightly mock cringed but nodded anyway.

Fox went upstairs and Snake followed, after saying to Eagle "Oh and you can clean up this crap seeming as he tripped over your slipper!" he sniggered and ran upstairs as another roll of thunder shook the air.

Eagle turned and looked at the mess on the floor. "Ohhhh….." he moaned, going for the mop.

Once upstairs, Snake went straight to the bathroom and started a warm bath for Alex, who was now crying as another roll of thunder shook the air.

"Fox hurry up!" Snake shouted, rocking Alex comfortingly.

Fox dashed in with his CD player, already have worked out why they needed, and turned it on, turning it up so that they could no longer hear the thunder. Alex relaxed slightly in Snake's arms, but he was still crying.

'He must get some sort of flash back every time he hears thunder or lightning' Snake thought to himself as he undressed Alex and slipped him into the bath.

"Al, you alright now?" Snake asked, carefully, but quite loudly as the music was quite loud to drown out the weather outside.

Alex looked up at him with is big brown eyes, now bloodshot. They were scared, no terrified. Snake lent over the bath and passed Alex the yellow rubber duck he brought him the previous day. Alex loved the duck. He had named it yellowy, or llellowy as Alex said.

"Llellowy!" Alex shouted, eyes brightening and reaching for his bath buddy. Snake laughed and handed him the duck. With the loud music and the rubber duck, Alex had now forgotten there was a storm outside. At least that was one problem over in the many he suspected this past plagued little boy might have. Snake wanted to make this right, and he was the kind of man who succeeded in what he wanted to get done, one way or another. But soon they would be training him to be a spy, before he had the choice to live, to be a child.

"Fox!" he shouted, making Fox run to him.

"What?" he shouted back.

"Get the kids towel and a fresh set of clothes!" he replied, almost smiling as Fox had no idea what to get the kid to dress him in. a strange expression crossed Fox's face, but he nodded and went to Alex's room anyway.

Quickly Snake washed Alex's hair and sponged off any other rubbish that he had on him, the stuff that hadn't already come off in the warm water. Fox came back with the stuff and set them on the floor. Snake looked up and shouted at him, whilst Alex was currently under the water, as he liked to do.

"Is the storm over yet?" he asked, seeming as Alex's fingers were going wrinkly.

"Yeah its only drizzling, I'll turn the music off" Fox replied, turning off the CD player and taking it back to his room.

"Okay then Alex, you're getting out now" Snake said, lifting him out of the bath and reaching for the blue towel.

/line break/

Eagle had put on a pair of marigolds yellow gloves and the radio whilst he scrubbed the floor. He was singing to Coldplay's new song 'paradise' when Alex and Snake came back downstairs, Alex now wearing a blue hoodie and some khaki trousers, his blonde hair towel dried and all over the place. They came into the kitchen hearing Eagle singing, and let's just say the high pitched parts did not sound good with Eagle's considerably deeper voice. It sounded like a cat being strangled.

Alex started laughing, and upon hearing this Eagle looking up, his face one of horror when he realised they had caught him. Snake laughed at his expression.

"Dude you have the X-Factor!" Snake exclaimed, laughing as hard as Alex now was at Eagle's facial expression.

The man growled to Alex "You think it's funny?"

Alex looked at him, deadly serious but full of humour at the same time, and replied a quick squeal of a yes.

"Why I oughtta!" Eagle exclaimed, charging towards Alex.

Alex laughed once more and ran to the lounge, Eagle on his tail.

Snake sat down at the breakfast bar, happy that Alex was so easily distracted. Happy that he could hear squeals of laughter from the lounge. Life was getting better for Alex, but would he be able to deal with what was to come?


	11. the weetabix incident

**i know i haven't uploaded in a while, so here's the next chappie! i hope you like it and i know its quite short but its not that bad, right?**

"No." Alex said, his 5 year old side once again shining through. They were all sitting in the dining room, the K-unit all drinking some be  
>beverage, from black coffee (for Snake who now needed stronger drinks as he had a 5 year to be looked after) to orange juice (Snake insisted Eagle too needed something to help him concentrate sometimes).<p>

They were currently trying to get him to eat his cereal, which had changed from cocoa pops to Weetabix with strawberries. Snake felt he should eat a healthier meal for breakfast, and therefore had given him Weetabix with fruit.

And he wasn't too happy about that.

"Al it's not that bad! And the strawberries are nice!" Fox exclaimed; annoyed that the kid wouldn't just eat what he was given.

"No" the blonde boy stated again, stating with hatred at the icky stuff currently turning muckier by the minute in his bowl.

"Alex! Eat the food!" Snake hissed, already having enough, and it was only 8:45! He was a tolerant man, on most days, but again he had been up half the night with a distraught Alex. It was becoming more of a routine than anything now. Wake up to cries at 1 to 2:30ish. Get up, calm down screaming child till 4ish and then trample back to be once the boy was once again asleep. Don't get him wrong, he liked Alex a lot, and had fatherly feelings for him now that he was just discovering. But it was a big life style change for him. Most dads or parental figures had a steady and strong relationship before children, then a decision and then they had an entire 9 months to get used to a life changing thing before it even came. On the other hand, Snake had been given a decision with is unit, asked by the blunt guy called the head of fricking MI6.

He thought he was coping well considering the circumstances. But that didn't mean he was very annoying with the blonde figured kid sitting across the table from him.

"No. I don't like it" Alex replied, still staring at the grey stuff with disgust.

"Look. What is it gonna take to get you to eat it?" Wolf asked with a sigh.

Snake sent him an alarmed glance that clearly read _'what the hell? Negotiations?' _ But Wolf ignored it and looked at the 5 year old, who had a look of deep thought on his face.

"You have to eat some too. When it's mucky and runny!" Alex explained, an evil edge to his voice.

Wolf paled. He could not begin to explain how much hatred he held for the grey stuff in the bowl. It was pure, deep hatred.

"Or…" he choked, eyes on the cereal.

"Or you buy me a tractor!" Alex exclaimed, and all but Wolf and Alex burst out laughing. Ever since Alex had watched Top Gear on the TV two days ago where they were driving tractors he had been asking for one and drawing pictures of it.

"Fine" Wolf growled, grabbing the bowl and the spoon from the devious kid.

He dug the spoon into the bowl, gripping till his knuckles were white. Snake was glad it was metal; something he was sure that Wolf couldn't break.

Lifting it too his mouth, his mind wandered to why he didn't like Weetabix…he couldn't even remember! He had blocked it from his mind. He vaguely remembered Eagle involved, and shuddered upon that thought.

It was getting closer, or his hand was moving towards his mouth as most would put it.

The K-units leader could smell it now; it really was revolting. His last thought before the contents of his spoon entered his mouth was 'why oh why didn't we just say no and live with the consequences!'

Wolf pulled a face so horrible that even Snake, who was the mother hen and the most mature of the unit, wanted to get a camera out and post it on the web. It was hilarious! His eyes scrunched and he was on the verge of choking; it tasted like poop in his mouth. The rest of the unit were laughing so hard they were almost falling off their chairs; Eagle was crying in laughter.

And Alex was smiling deviously, something that glinted in his chocolate brown eyes.

Wolf was trying not to swallow the god forsaken thing in his mouth. But he swallowed it.

Big mistake.

Feeling the vile that was climbing the back of his throat, wordlessly he tore to the downstairs toilet; and over the sounds of laughter from the others you could faintly hear the sound of him retching up the terrible stuff.

…

The Weetabix incident staying fresh in the minds of all the k-unit. Alex, being the 5 year old he was, quickly forgot about it; his mind taken over by curiosity for something else. All he knew is that he continued getting cocoa pops from then onwards, and the Weetabix box was gone from its place in the cupboard. Oh and Wolf had his scowl planted firmly on his face the entire day.

Snake had read on the internet that 5 year olds thrived for time around other children their age and time around their parental figures. So until Alex started at that god damned school soon, where there would be other children, the unit would have to spend as much time with him as they could.

Before Alex started changing and maturing, something that would soon be definite and inevitable.

So the afternoon after the Weetabix incident, all of them was in the lounge; watching the TV. Arguing about to what to watch.

"The footballs on doofus, I don't wanna miss the match!" Wolf growled at Eagle, who currently had possession of the control.

"Noooo! You can watch it on iplayer. We wanna watch Top Gear!" Eagle argued. Alex had taken a particular liking to that show after the one with the tractor.

"Guys we can watch all of them later! Let's watch Eastenders! Look it's a repeat!" Fox cut in, having been quiet during the whole thing.

The rest of the unit looked at him, shock on their faces.

"You're kidding me! You did not just say that!" Eagle exclaimed, as the others cracked up. Including Alex, who had no idea really what was going on, but seeing the others laugh made him laugh too.

"Ha yeah! Fox…our special trained SAS soldier and MI6 agent watches Eastenders! Ha you're never living that one back!" Snake shouted, rather childishly considering his normal behaviour. The others were too busy to notice this though.

"Hey! I love that show! Don't take the p***! Seriously!" Fox argued.

They all only laughed harder at this, and meanwhile Alex put on Top Gear for himself. Contently watching this, he lent against Snake's chest and absorbed the cars on there. He didn't really understand it but liked seeing the cars and stuff on the screen. Especially the tractors.

The others continued to bicker, but after a while Snake and Wolf got bored and decided to watch Top Gear with Alex. So it was a pointless bicker between the ever childish Eagle and the sometimes childish Fox, like at Brecon Beacons. Some things just never change.

Once Top Gear finished, Alex looked for the next thing he could do. The 5 year old mind pondered; drifting from lots of ideas. It came to the final two: use Eagle as a horsey and climb on him or colour in his bedroom walls. He went with option 2.

Snake watched with slight anxiety as his ward bounded up the stairs, blonde hair messed up; knowing that what he was up too couldn't be good, but the kid was a just that; a kid! Sure he was gonna be naughty, stroppy etc. but at the same time, he had been pretty rebellious this morning, especially with the Weetabix incident. Snake knew that Alex knew that what he did was wrong.

Oh dear.

"Eagle! Fox! Will you shut up?" Snake shouted. They silenced immediately.

"Eagle go and check that he's not doing anything bad, and Fox do the washing up" Snake commanded. Eagle happily stuck his tongue out at Fox and sprinted up the stairs. But Fox needed to moan at Snake.

Yay.

Meanwhile, upstairs Eagle dashed into Alex's room, only coming to a halt when he took in what he saw. 5 year old was smiling angelically, looking at him with the puppy brown eyes. In one hand was a green crayon, and in the other the box of 100crayola crayons.

And the walls. Damn. Well….

Snake was NOT going to be a happy bunny.


	12. thanks for reviewing authors note

**Really sorry this isn't a chapter but it's come to my attention that I've had loads of reviews, well not loads really and was hoping for more, and I haven't replied to any reviews. ever. so…this is basically just an author's note to say thank you to EVERYONE who has reviewed. Even if you just put something like nice chapter it's still really amazing to get a review from my readers and it puts a smile on my face every time I open my email and find I have a review! That may sound cheesy but its true! Oh and the comments where it points out bad things are really useful because then I can make it better!**

**So if you are reading this then you've read my story and even if you think its completely terrible, review that and I can make it better! Constructive criticism helps and this website helps a lot because my grades in English aren't very good…**

**So thanks and hope you like my stories**

**Xx Jellie Smiff xX**


	13. it starts to change

**okay. i know i havent updated in a while, but its been frantic! anyway, i do hope you like this chapter. i think it includes something that is kinda expected but at the same time i hope that you enjoy reading it! i said to myself last week i would update all my stories in the next week but ive only done this one so im ashamed :( but oh well! hope you enjoy and dont forget that replies put a smile on my face! enjoy!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, upstairs Eagle dashed into Alex's room, only coming to a halt when he took in what he saw. 5 year old was smiling angelically, looking at him with the puppy brown eyes. In one hand was a green crayon, and in the other the box of 100crayola crayons.<em>

_And the walls. Damn. Well…._

_Snake was NOT going to be a happy bunny._

"Alex" Eagle choked out weakly, taking in the scene before his eyes. A rainbow of colours, scribbles, covered the bottom half of the wall, stopping from where Alex could no longer reach. And in the centre there was a gap, taken up by the drawing of a tractor. Admittedly it was a good tractor. The kid was really good at drawing it seemed, _shame that it'll be wasted _a voice said in the back of his mind. Shaking it away, he looked back at the grinning 5 year old.

"Do you like my picture?" the boy exclaimed, blinking with those big round brown eyes.

"Err" what was the man supposed to say? He wasn't sure whether Snake would think this was cute or whether he was gonna blow his top off. And Wolf…well Eagle was thankful that Alex was so adorable.

Alex's face fell, and his bottom lip wobbled dangerously. As in he might start crying.

"It's a very good picture Al, but you shouldn't really have used the wall should you?" Eagle asked, approaching him and crouching down to his height.

"B-but the paper wasn't big enough" he stuttered, his eyes glistened.

Eagle sighed. He really wasn't the man for this. "Hold on Al, don't do anymore colouring" he muttered, and dashed out the room.

He entered the lounge, and all pairs of eyes met his at once. "Hey guys" he said nervously.

"Eagle what is he doing?" Wolf growled dangerously.

Eagle let out a short, nervous bark of a laugh. "Ha! Why would you think anything was wrong?" oh damn, eagle thought to himself.

Before Eagle had a chance to do anything, the others had already jumped up and sprinted towards the kid. Eagle ran after them.

The K-unit, minus Eagle, all stared in shock at what was on the wall. From Wolf's point of view, he saw a mess of colours and a hell of a lot of painting over before it would be invisible. Fox was actually grinning in his amusement, remembering when his little brother had once done this, only on a more…minor scale. And Snake didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He wanted to laugh because it was so adorable in its own way, but at the same time he knew that Alex was only going to get naughtier during the time he had him.

Eagle burst through the door, eager to see what would happen.

"Alex wh-"Wolf started, but was cut off when Fox's work phone shrilly rang, cutting through the near silence. Automatically the adults tensed, the child sensing something was wrong.

He quickly grabbed it out his pocket and hit the accept button.

"Fox speaking"

The voice on the other side of the line spoke quickly, they couldn't hear from the low volume, but they could tell it wasn't good by the way that Fox's voice wavered slightly in the next sentence and a frown showed on his normally funny face.

"Yes sir" and with that he hit the end button, he looked up. "We need to get out of here; Scorpia's made a possible hit"

They burst into action. The unit had already had a talk about what they were going to do in an emergency procedure: Eagle was to get the weapons bag stored under Wolf's bed; Snake was to get Alex and the emergency bag on top of the boy's wardrobe. Fox was to get the car keys and getting the car ready to drive and Wolf was to stand guard and communicate with MI6.

"One minute guys" he commanded, and they all ran to do what they needed, all with guns out apart from Snake. Fox chucked the phone to Wolf, who then held it in a tight grasp and stood just out of the view of Alex with his gun. Snatching the bag from the top of the wardrobe, Snake scooped up Alex; who knew it was better to not argue, but he did grab his teddy from the floor as he was (rather roughly too!) snatched up. Snake ran from the room to the awaiting car, Wolf on his tail, meeting the others who had already got what they had needed and made their way out. They were the SAS. It was their speciality. Although each had had special possessions in that house, they needed to prioritize, and the super important stuff was on their person.

…

Wolf, the designated driver, pulled out of the drive, already speeding towards the location Fox was directing him too. Fox had the shotgun seat, and in the back they had moved Alex to the middle for safety. Eagle sat to the right with Snake to the right. Alex was tense, and wanted to cry. Snake sensed this.

"Alex? It's gonna be alright kiddo" he muttered softly, leaning over to try and look into his eyes, to try to see what he was thinking, even if he doubted that he would get through.

"Why?" he whined, and Snake sighed. He knew what had been coming; it was only to be expected from a 5 year old really.

"Some…some bad people want something…so we have to go…away for a bit…while some other people sort it out" Snake explained to the best of his ability, hoping Alex wouldn't understand, but his eyes told the real story. Alex understood the meaning of what was happening.

"Is it to do with the bank?" he asked softly, eyes slightly glazed, but Snake could tell he was thinking hard, and had just made a link between the two things.

"Not sure bud, just get some sleep, ok?" Snake asked, tucking the tucking dog on the floor under Alex's open arms. Alex nodded and closed his eyes. Minutes later his thumb was in his mouth and everyone knew that he was asleep.

"Status update?" Snake asked his now cold voice cutting through the tense atmosphere.

"Scorpia sent a death threat saying that they'd need to get the fire-fighters out to unbury our bodies from the rubble. Apparently it's Scorpia getting cocky." Fox replied.

"SO where are we going?" Eagle piped in, his voice serious.

"SO gave us a postcode, it's about 40 miles away from base, shouldn't take long as I'm driving at 100." Wolf once against replied, slight malice within his voice.

Outside it was getting darker, as autumn continued to develop and change to winter. Outside it was cold, but thankfully not raining; that was the last thing they needed. Outside the rest of the world continued as though nothing was wrong. Outside a group of men with big guns wanted to kill a 5 year old. Eagle tried to shake the thought from is head, and concentrated on the hum of the engine, on the cold gun in his hands. Sure, he had had dark thought before, who hadn't? But now, with his current job, well it had given him a new perspective really. Everyone had said he was naive, and before now he had laughed and argued back like the child he was most of the time. And now he was starting to see that maybe, just maybe, they were right. Never before had he thought that Scorpia would take time and money and effort for revenge on the last of a family who had shown them up. Thinking about it now, he realised just how naïve he really was. Wow.

They'd been driving for roughly 30 minutes, and there had been no nothing. No shooting, no communication from MI6, no stirring from the sleeping child. In fact, there was a sort of eerie silence, apart from the ever going hum of the engine and the wind whistling just outside the metallic skeleton protecting them from it.

The last instruction Fox had given was follow the road round for 20 miles, so Snake assumed that they couldn't be far when Fox said "take the next left." In a quiet yet clear voice. Soon after, the car lurched to the left, and Alex shifted slightly.

"Wolf, drive gently mate. The last thing we want is him to wake up" Snake said in a low voice. Wolf merely grunted his reply. In Fox's hand now was a GPS, and from where Eagle was sitting he could see a moving blue light; one that was obvious be them. something that bothered both and him and made Fox curse, was the 4 fast approaching red dots on the screen, obviously not good from the way Fox practically shouted:

"Wolf, speed the hell up. 4 fast approaching and back-ups minutes away" the car sped up considerably sped up. Then he turned to Eagle and said "get the guns out dude, this could get nasty."

Snake prayed, not to God; he didn't believe in that, but to luck. Luck that this wouldn't get nasty.

To be honest, he had a very bad feeling.


	14. the play barn

**here's the next chapter! for one of the first time i am actually quite confident about this chapter, as i really enjoyed writing this and wrote it all in an hour! sudden motivational boost there, thanks cousin Sam!**

**anyways, same thing as i've said before: i really hope you enjoy, please review, glad you're reading my story etc xxx sorry if i seem rude but i'm tired, oh and two more things!**

**1. this story is almost finished!**

**2. if i dont post before then ... MERRY CHRISTMAS!LET IT SNOW PEOPLE!**

**Enjoy 3 **

****As Eagle and Wolf left the house at more or less 12 with their little blonde ward in tow, and Fox went for a walk to the petrol station to buy some snacks and newspapers, it gave Snake some time to think.

And think he did.

All the recent events had been buzzing in the back of his mind for the last 2 days, as it was now 2 days ago that all the chase events happened, and now he had a real chance to strategically think each of them through. To recite the events to himself, and to think more of the future, the future of the little boy he and his unit were protecting.

To be honest with himself, deep down he knew, however cruel that this thought would be: protecting Alex from Scorpia was the least of his problems. Alex's he meant. The thing, organisation that Alex needed protecting from was MI6.

Snake now knew that these government agencies were heartless. He thought they might have a little soul in them, they were run by people after all. But no. they were cold hearted, killers by profession, by heart, by mind.

And now they were going to train children to do an adults work. Disgusting.

And how MI6 had received information that Scorpia were going to make a hit, so they tell them to get out and go to a safe house, only to find themselves being shot at just before they were there. Alex had awoken, and had starting crying as he saw what was going on: the entire K-Unit with their guns out, shooting out the windows, and hearing the metallic ping, a very loud one, every time their car was struck by a bullet.

Distressing much?

Just after 3 of the 4 Scorpia vehicles had been shot in the tyres, ensuring them to go wild and crash and burn, MI6 decided to make their appearance, the agents in the stereotypical cars. By this time, however, the unit had ran out of ammo, therefore however pissed they were for MI6's spectacular late arrival, they didn't complain. They didn't want to risk losing Alex too early.

Alex had been hysterical, and it took a lot to calm him down. Whilst Eagle, the most childish of the group kept him as distracted as possible, the K-Unit drove back. The threat was neutralised apparently. Yeah, like they didn't know that the attackers were dead? The dead bodies on the floor and in the burnt cars weren't enough? Sometimes they wondered in Military Intelligence sector 6 actually had the intelligence that was in their name...

So getting back rather late, they had stayed in the lounge to sleep, Alex in the arms of Eagle as he dozed. Wolf and Snake had been talking quietly, about Alex, and their career's and the war and everything that seemed to be going wrong in the world.

They spoke for a long time.

Fox had been communicating with a man called Smither's, the gadget master of MI6. He was, admittedly, a genius. And probably one of the nicest people in the organisation. Wolf, being the team leader, probably should have been monitoring the situation and the communication between the pair, but at the same time…wouldn't doing that mean he did not trust Fox? And Wolf definitely trusted Fox.

They wouldn't normally have stayed up, but after a serious red alert threat and a gun fight/car chase, the K-Unit could neither sleep nor trust to have Alex unprotected for even the shortest amount of time. No, this didn't mean that they came into the toilet with him; they weren't pervs or anything like that! They stood outside the door. It wasn't like Alex needed protection whilst peeing.

Snake then switched his thoughts to the future, of the little blonde boy that he was starting to develop paternal feelings for, how someday he would be a killer, and in constant danger, and more threatened…and…and….and….and….and….

A single tear slid down David's face.

….meanwhile…..

After Wolf wrestled Alex into the car seat, which was even harder than usual considering the traumatic events from the former day, Eagle hopped in the back with the whining child and they drove off. MI6 had replaced the bullet damaged car yesterday, replacing it with a burnt orange coloured Nissan Pathfinder. Gorgeous looking, bullet proof like the last one apparently. And it had a Ferrari speed engine? Yeah, this car was gorgeous. Wolf was one of those guys that admired every car, however crappy it was; he tried to find the positive's. Where to begin with this one?

They drove listening to the radio. Well, Wolf was listening to the radio, not to mention driving and trying not to swear and rant about London traffic like he normally did. Eagle was teaching Alex how to play a thumb war, and although Alex lost every match to Eagle's considerably stronger and bigger thumbs, he kept trying like a lost Spaniel every time it got sent away. Cute!

The place they were going was like heaven for kids. Especially active kids. Especially active kids that were crazy. Especially the active male crazy kids. Especially the ones that liked running around and climbing and playing and fighting and running into stuff and falling.

Yes, Eagle and Wolf were taking Alex to the play barn.

**(A/N: I don't know if they have Playbarns in any other country apart from England. So I'm just saying playbarn is this massive inside play area for little kids with climbing and slides and ball pits and ladders and everything like that. Enjoy carrying on reading!)**

When they arrived, 2 pairs of eyes widened.

Alex's in excitement when he was the massive red building with kids his age running in and out of it.

Wolf's in horror as he saw how busy the place was, how many kids there were.

Eagle grinned at the reactions, undid the car seat and slid out the car, taking Alex with him. He rested the excited child on his hip and didn't let him get down when he struggled to. Eagle had read online that you had to check in first for fire safety reasons or something, so that was exactly what he did, letting Wolf pay for the price. Alex was too busy looking around in wonder to really notice much of what else was going on around him at the moment.

A massive multi-coloured climbing frame stood 40ft above them, and very wide. It was caged in of course, with netting. The frame was made of metal but coated in an inch thick of padding, making it more child and accident friendly. Hundreds of kids were everywhere, climbing and laughing, and in some cases they were crying. It was noisy and barbaric and hot and crowded. Wolf felt like a sunflower in a field of red roses, Eagle admittedly felt slightly uncomfortable but pushed it aside for Alex. And Alex was loving it. there were so many other people his age who were playing and all he wanted was to go and play with them and make friends.

The blonde felt himself being put to the floor, and was about to run when he turned round and questioned Eagle with his eyes: _can I go?_

Eagle smiled and replied gently "Go have some fun Alex. Come back when you want to, yeah?"

Alex nodded and slipped out of sight.

Wolf wondered if telling him to come back when he wanted to was the right thing to say, considering how clever the 5 year old was. How could undoubtedly use it to his advantage. But Wolf pushed that aside and wandered to the adult part that sold refreshments. He had to remember that he was here for Alex, for a good reason.

They were here because Fox had suggested it. He had said that maybe they should get Alex used to being around kids his own age, and getting used to tiring events. Wolf was surprised that Fox, out of all of them, had come up with this, as the man seemed to be not quite as attached as the rest of them. Eagle had been more than happy to take Alex to this adult hell/kid heaven, and Wolf had accompanied them because he felt that they would need some kind of back up in the event of an emergency. Sometimes one SAS man wasn't enough. Especially when it involved a 5 year old and Eagle together!

Alex gazed wide-eyed at the massive frame before him. everywhere he looked there were children, laughing and playing. But that was the problem. They were laughing and playing together, making him feel more lonely than ever before. He was considering going back to Eagle, tears beginning to shine in his brown eyes, when all of a sudden something, or someone, tapped him on the shoulder.

Whirling round, he came face to face with a pale skinned, black haired boy. They were roughly the same height, and could look into each other's eyes. Sea green met chocolate brown, the green happy, the brown sad and lonely.

"Hi!" the boy exclaimed, eyes gleaming.

Alex stared sceptically at the boy. Why was he talking to him? Part of the 5 year old wondered if it was some sort of joke, the dark side of him.

"Err … hi?" Alex answered cautiously.

"Do you wanna come and play with me? I'm on my own and you look lonely!" the boy asked him.

Alex smiled and replied "Yeah. What's your name though? The names Rider…Alex Rider" Alex remembered watching a film with Jack once where a guy in a tuxedo said that.

They both laughed at Alex's antics before the boy replied.

"My name's Tom…Tom Harris."

Silently, Eagle watched the exchanged from a distance. He decided to wait till Alex had found someone to play with before he left him alone. Before the black haired boy turned up, the man could see in his eyes that Alex felt lonely, and half wondered if he would come running back crying to him.

With interest, he watched their little exchange, and smiled when they both laughed at something that Alex had said. Trust slowly began to build on the blonde's face until they both ran off in the direction of the climbing frame's big red slide.

Sipping from the cup of apple and blackcurrant juice drink he had brought, Eagle didn't notice that someone had approached him until they sat down and said hi.

He jumped and almost choked on his drink. Almost.

"…Hello. How can I help you?" he asked politely looking at the person. It was a woman, probably at about the age of 25, the same as his. She had long black hair flowing over her shoulders and crystal blue eyes. Freckles covered the area on her nose and she was rather slim. And pretty.

She laughed at him, and he felt himself blush. Wait, why did he blush? He was SAS!

Seeing his confused face, she elaborated. "You just looked rather cute when you said that. I'm Cathy by the way. I saw looking at my son and the blonde boy. Is that your son or are you a pervert?" she asked with light humour. But even an idiot could hear the protectiveness in her voice at the same time though.

He smiled at her humour and replied easily "Don't worry, I am not perverted! He's my…foster son and he's not very social and he's very shy. He's had a rough life." Eagle replied as truthfully as possible.

"Awww the poor thing. You're so nice to foster the poor child." She said, flirty yet full of empathy at the same time. He liked this woman. He also noticed with interest that she wasn't wearing a ring on her finger, nor was there any sign that one had ever been there.

"Sooo….he's your son then….."

Laughing, Alex tackled Tom on the edge of the ball pit, causing them both to go tumbling into it, plastic waves crashing onto the other children and making them scarper. They both emerged with ear splitting grins and laughter. They'd lost track of time as they played roughly, both probably going to be bruised in the morning. Alex couldn't remember the last time he had this much fun, and couldn't believe he'd made a friend. A friend called Tom.

The two young boys hadn't realised how late it was until they paused to take a breath after they winded themselves as they fell into the ball pit. Nearly everyone in the playbarn had gone, and now only about 20 remained, and of course their parents. From where they were sitting they could see that Eagle was talking to Tom's mum. Well, Alex could see Eagle talking to some black haired woman, and Tom could see his mummy talking to some brown haired man.

"I wonder who Eagle is talking to?" Alex questioned. Tom answered.

"You mean the man talking to my mum?"

"Is the black haired lady your mum?"

"Yeah"

"Then she's talking to Eagle"

"Whose Eagle though?" Tom asked, obviously still confused.

Alex was thrown. Who was Eagle? He wasn't his daddy, his daddy had died. He wasn't his uncle, he had died too. He wasn't his house keeper, Jack died. Who was he then? Alex decided he would ask.

"I don't know really. My daddy died and my uncle died and my housekeeper died. I'll go ask him" Alex replied, biting his lip as he thought.

He lifted himself out of the ball pit, aware that Tom was following him but took no notice of it; too caught up in his own thoughts.

He bounded over to Eagle and hopped onto his lap, making the man jump. Tom went and sat on the lap of his mother, who ran her hands through his short black hair. He leaned against her chest.

Alex lent sideways against Eagle's chest, and looked up at him, brown eyes deep with emotion.

"What's wrong buddy?" Eagle asked, trying to sound casual but failing, as he was very concerned as to what was wrong.

Alex sniffled, his little hand starting to fiddle with Eagle's considerably larger ones, showing that he didn't quite know what to say.

"Eagle? What are you to me? Because my daddy died and my uncle Ian died and my housekeeper Jack died, and now you look after me with Snake and Wolf and Fox?" Alex explained, voice thick with is emotion and looking like he might start crying.

Eagle was stumped, and he noted that Cathy was watching him like she was assessing what he would say. What was he supposed to say to Alex, and more to the point; what was he to Alex?

He certainly wasn't a father, he wasn't an uncle, he wasn't step family, he wasn't an adopted uncle. He was kind of a foster uncle but at the same time, more of a foster guardian. Ah, and he had told Cathy that he had fostered Alex.

"Err, I'm not sure kiddo, what do you want me to be like to you?" he asked cautiously. He had told himself that he wouldn't get too close to the child, form too much of an attachment. Yet he had, and he was just about to make the bond stronger without meaning to.

Eyebrows tight in thought, Alex thought about it before saying it. "I want you to be like my uncle, only nicer and around more" he paused before continuing "and I want you to be like my brother, because Jack said that having a brother around was good because they are fun to annoy!" although it sure did sound young and immature, the meaning behind was wise.

Eagle blinked.

He wasn't quite sure what he was expecting, but he certainly wasn't expecting to have it said so wisely with so much thought behind it.

Before Eagle could reply, Alex yawned, a hazy look in his eyes. Looking over at Tom, who also looked tired, and then to Cathy, whose expression he couldn't read. Then he looked at the clock, and his eyes did a double take. It was already 7pm! Surely he had not been talking to this woman for that long! And where was Wolf? Maybe he had gone back to the car or something, he seemed to like it.

"Ready to go home Al? It's really late and you look tired kiddo" Eagle suggested.

"No!" he exclaimed, and both he and Tom started making for the ball pit, running as fast as they could considering they were short and tired. Just as the two boys made to dive in, at last minute Eagle caught both of them by the shirt, yanking them to his chest. Swinging them over his shoulder, he triumphantly walked back to the table where Cathy was laughing at the pouts on their faces. They wiggled on his shoulders but seemed too tired to really struggle. Once at the table, he lent down to allow Cathy to slide Tom to her lap, where he wrapped his arms around her neck and buried his face in it.

Eagle moved Alex round so he was lying in a more bridal carry, fitting perfectly and snugly. It seemed he was already half asleep, so he was careful not to jog him too much as he once again sat down at the table.

"Well, I better be getting this one home! Nice to meet you Matt! What's your mobile number? I am sure that Tom would love to meet Alex again, and I'd love to get to know you more!" she said cheerfully.

They exchanged numbers, and before Eagle knew it, he was already seated in the back of the car next to the sleeping Alex, eagerly telling Wolf about Alex's new friend, and his new friend.

Wolf rolled his eyes, thinking about how he would have to endure a 45 minute car ride with Eagle. But at the same time, he was glad to hear that Alex had found a friend.

At least Alex was happy….

….

….for now….

**review! you know you want to !**


	15. the end of what was

The overtired blonde boy dumped his big blue rucksack in the middle of the hallway, struggling to wrestle off the green and purple striped tie. Once that horrid thing was off he worked to undo the top button of his white shirt, it felt like a dog collar to him.

His guardian watched with a sad expression from the door as his ward undid his tie and shirt. The boy then headed towards the direction of the lounge, only to be picked up by his brother/semi-father figure.

"Alex! How as school? Is it better?" Eagle asked excitedly, but curiosity and concern was also there. The pained looked that his 5 year old semi-ward sent him made him want to shoot something. The brown eyes were getting cold and distant, and the black bags underneath his eyes just didn't help with the look either. Alex used to look carefree and happy and innocent. But after just 3 weeks of a strict routine and going to a horrible private school was enough to start turning him into this. Snake was worried that he was going to get ill at this rate; it seemed that this was too much.

"No. I hate it" the boy replied, voice thick and obviously close to breaking. Eagle pulled Alex into a hug and rocked slightly, a habit he got from going to help him during a nightmare. Him and Snake did alternate days now. Alex wrapped his arms around Eagle's neck and laid his cheek against the place in between the shoulder and neck, where it was most comfortable.

"Buddy. It can't be that bad! It will get better, I bet you. You just need some time to settle in, that's all." Eagle tried to comfort, but it wasn't like he had much to work with. He couldn't make promises that he was sure he could keep, and the last thing he wanted was for Alex to lose his trust in him.

Alex merely dug his head in the comfortable place, and so Eagle turned to Snake.

"What's he got now?"

Snake glanced at his watch. "He has 20 minute before he needs to leave for Karate, so he might as well get dressed for it now. Do you wanna help or shall i?" Snake told him.

"I'll do it!" Eagle replied, bounding up the stairs as gently as possible.

Snake picked up the school bag and dumped it on the dining room table, before dumping his keys and taking off his jacket. The bag was heavy, and once again he sighed. Alex was being run to the ground, no doubt about that. But then again, children were adaptable. He knew Alex would adjust with time, not that he should have to in the first place. If it wasn't for that harmful **** blunt, then Alex would probably be happy.

But he wasn't. Little boys shouldn't be preparing for a man's job at the age of 5. It was wrong. It is wrong. And yet he felt like he was helping it all along. Another thing he realised was that he didn't have much more time looking after the kid before they had to go back to training.

And then what would happen to him? Live with some agent? Blunt himself? Snake highly doubted the last one. Laughed emanated from upstairs, the laughter of his comrade and his ward, bringing a small smile to his face. He tried to clear his mind of the darker thoughts.

….

Alex laughed again as he was tickled by Eagle, who was also laughing. Said boy was lying on his back on his bed, tears of laughter freefalling down his face, legs kicking to try and escape being mercilessly tickled by Eagle. The man was having fun, and happy knowing that Alex could be happy.

But it didn't stop him from thinking that soon Alex would be gone. And k-unit would return to duty, go onto a war plain and kill to protect their country. The laughter didn't stop those thoughts. Ones of death and sadness and loss and pain.

However much Alex laughed, he couldn't stop thinking about his school. It lingered on his thoughts like a plague. He HATED it there. The teachers were really strict and the other kids kept teasing him about his height, that he was at the top of the class, that his mum had never come to pick him up. Loads and loads of things that they just found to tease him about. The other boys kept tripping him up and the girls kept pulling his hair. All he wanted to do was ask Snake or Eagle or Wolf or Fox to take him to Tom's school, wherever that was. He wanted to be best friends with Tom. Tears of unhappiness started filling out the ones of joy, and Eagle stopped tickling him when he noticed that sad and desperate look in his eyes. He was pulled into a hug.

Eagle never wanted to let go, knowing that this child would have a hard and bitter and cold life. The man doubted if he would ever see the boy again when he left.

He helped him into his karate kit and carried him downstairs.

…

Wolf wanted to kick Blunt where it bloody hurts. Snake had just told him that Alex was really unhappy. They had hoped that Alex would adjust quickly, but it seems to be taking longer than everyone had anticipated it to.

He watched as Snake dialled the number on the leaflet.

"_Good morning, Scholae Londinensi regii here. Sarah Williams speaking. How can I help?"_

"I'm David McCathy, guardian of Alex Rider? Could I possibly speak to his teacher?"

"_Yes, of course I will just put you through."_

He waited as patiently as an angry, stressed SAS solider and medic could wait. Which translates as not very well.

"_Hello, this is Miss Rice speaking, how can I help?"_

Snake cleared his throat and tried to keep a steady mind.

"I'm the guardian of Alex Rider, I believe he's in your class?"

"_Yes, what about him?"_ wow. She was rude.

"I would like to know how he is doing because he isn't very happy at home and I am concerned."

There was a pause on the end of the line before she answered in a somewhat more careful tone. _"He is very bright, polite and quiet."_

Snake frowned; she was semi avoiding the question. "And what of the other students behaviour towards him?"

"_I don't think they particularly like him to be honest with you. They ignore him then trip him up, pull his hair, scribble on his work and push him over at break time."_

Snake didn't quite know what to say. Alex really was having shit with them.

"And what are you going to do about it? You cannot let him be bullied like that! He was a very happy child before attending your school, and now he is withdrawn and quiet."

She didn't seem to want to answer to that one, probably because he practically yelled and was currently very angry that they were doing nothing.

"_I will see to it. Good day sir."_ She hung up. Ah well, at least the whole thing was recorded, so that he could prove to MI6 that maybe sending him to a different school was a very good idea. But then again, this was MI6. They just weren't the kind of agency who thought of feelings and such.

…_..10 minutes later…. _

Snake gave Alex a piggy back to the car, Eagle just behind them with the key. He had convinced Alex and together they had convinced Snake to let Eagle drive. Snake didn't know why he gave in…maybe it was those chocolate brown eyes. They all got into the car and drove away.

5 minutes later Fox entered the front door, dashing to find his unit leader, who had a can of red bull and was watching Top Gear. "Wolf!" he shouts, causing the man to spill his red bull. Said man glared up at his teammate angrily.

"WHAT THE F-"he starts, but is cut off.

"Wolf! I've got news! Some good, some bad!"! Fox says excitedly, and Wolf stops to hear him.

"What? Tell me then!" Wolf presses.

"Well the bad thing is that...well…you know that I was thinking about going to MI6?"

"Yes?"

"Well they said I could have the job"

"WHAT!" how could he do this to them?

"I'm really sorry but I cannot do the battle thing. But I have some good news to accompany it"

Wolf tried to control his flaring temper.

"Well they said that seeming as for the first year I will be doing really short missions and mostly desk jobs and paperwork, they agreed that I could look after Alex!"

Wolf didn't know what to do or say or feel. On one hand, he was losing his team mate, the man he had gotten to know and who felt like a brother to him, but on the other hand, it meant that Alex was going to be at least borderline happy for another year.

Before anything could be said or done, the phone rang.

Seeming as the phone nearly never rang, Wolf was hesitant to pick it up. Flashing a look of concern to Fox, he pressed the green button.

"Hello?" he growled mercilessly.

"James get the hell down here. They…they…I…ahhhhhh!" Wolf froze. In the background, he heard a gunshot. Wolf put the phone on loud speaker.

"Davie!" Wolf shouted, running out the door with Fox on his heels.

"NO!" Davie shouted down the line, obviously not talking to Wolf.

"What's happened? Where are you?" Wolf demanded.

"I- we- they-…." Davie seemed unable to speak properly.

"Snake. Status report." Wolf commanded using his SAS captain voice.

"Scorpia. Cutforth road. Trying to retrieve Alex. Eagle shooting, me protecting. Code red. Need immediate back up" Snake gave the report, his mind tuned to be able to give an official status report, even in the worse place like the battle ground, or in this case in a shootout.

They sprinted towards Cutforth road, brandishing guns.

But it was a 5 minute run, and by the time they reached it, sirens flashed as the emergency services arrived at the scene.

Because they were too late.

**I was going to leave it there, but I'm just too nice :P **

(2 weeks later)

They all sat in their cabin, a depressing silence filling the cold September night air that had entered through the door as their sergeant came in. Each one could not bring themselves to look anywhere apart from the floor.

"ATTENTION!" the seemingly cold hearted man shouted. The unit scrambled to attention, but with no real motives there. And the SAS sergeant saw this. Hell, who could miss it?

"At ease." He muttered. K-unit relaxed somewhat, but still were still stiff, and depressed.

"Wolf. Eagle. Snake. Fox" he addressed to each man. Fox had pulled out of his job at MI6 and decided to continue working with the SAS. No one knew why.

"Yes Sir." They chorused together, using a monotone.

"I know that you have all recently suffered a loss. But if you want to keep your jobs, which I assume you do?" he asked. They all nodded and muttered another 'yes sir'.

"Then you need to train. Just one week to get back in shape. Is that clear?" he demanded. They all muttered and once again muttered that 'Yes sir'.

Normally, the sergeant would've made them speak loudly and clearly and stand constantly at attention whilst in his presence. But he knew that the blow from losing Rider was a hard one. The psychologist they had said that they all blamed themselves for it, and that witnessing the death of a boy was a hard one for them all. Apparently they had all formed bonds with that boy. Eagle and Snake the strongest bonds.

Yes. Alex Rider died. Snake and Eagle witnessed him being shot in the heart and then bunged up in the back of a van and driven away. They blamed themselves. Wolf and Fox blamed themselves for not being fast enough, Snake and Eagle for not killing the Terrorists when they could've.

Time could heal the wounds.

"Good. Now I want you on the Assult Course first thing after breakfast break tomorrow. Is that clear?"

"Yes Sir"

"Good. Get some sleep soldiers."

This time they just nodded, and he walked out of the depressing room.

They fell asleep, just like that.

…..

The other side of the world, the first rays of sunlight beamed through the window.

Alex Rider opened his eyes.

FINISHED!

yes, there will be a squeal, I promise. i honestly dont know when it will be posted, because I've got a lot going on and that includes like 3 stories or something. anyway so tell me if you liked it. personally i enjoyed writing it! i think when this stories reaches 100 reviews i might start writing the sequel. so you know, the review button's just below my note here!

i really hoped you enjoyed the story, and hope you read the sequel...when its posted.

oh and one more thing...

MERRY CHRISTMAS PEOPLE!


End file.
